Video 37

38. Mandukya Upanishad | Chapter 3 Karika 12-14

so today's class will have to be short and sweet because we're strapped for time there's a program at the United Nations today they've declared it the world interfaith harmony week so I'm part of the panel so I have to be there but we'll have a class for about 45 minutes mmm today's also the birthday of Swami Bramha Nanda who was one of the direct disciples of sri ramakrishna and the first president of the order so there that's why we have the picture here all right let's see the Shanti mantra om bhadram Carini Bishan Aoyama deva petrm posh a moksha period t Ranga touch toboggans ustinova he via Shima Deva Heaton yada you who was Tina in drove with - ABBA swass Panov pooja Vishwa Vida swass Tina star show Irish taneema he trusts in Aubry Hospital data to whom Shanti Shanti Shanti so what has been going on so far is that in the third chapter of the Manduca carroca goda pada is trying to prove the non duality of brahman that the ultimate reality our own self is non dual that is there is no second reality apart from it it is the only reality this is the central teaching of Vedanta and this guru pada is trying to prove in the 3rd chapter with the help of reasoning and he has given examples is given some kind of argument so far and right now what he's trying to do is he is bringing up supporting evidence from the Upanishads remember Vedanta is is Upanishads basically the foundational texts of Vedanta our definitions so guru pod is bringing up supporting evidence from the Upanishads what he's doing is from the Upanishads he is showing that the Upanishads all say that Brahman is Atman that our real nature is Brahman the identity statements the so-called maha vaakya is the great statements from the open ishod's that thou art I am Brahman statements these statements they express the essential teaching of the open issues what's the essential teaching of Vedanta that you are Brahman the identity of God and man the oneness of Jeeva and Brahman this is the essential teaching of Advaita Vedanta so this is what he is demonstrating on the basis of the Upanishads but if you look a little closely you might ask what is the connection of that that the Jeeva and Ramon are one reality how is that connected to the actual subject of this chapter the subject of this chapter is Brahman is non dual that there is only one non dual reality what exactly is the connection how does it work it works like this Brahman the ultimate reality in fact God in all religions ultimate reality in all religions of the world if you will notice one thing it is it is not born it is not created not produced no religion in the world whether it's all the varieties of Vaishnavism shaktism shaivism in Hinduism or whether it is Christianity or Islam or Judaism the great Abrahamic theistic religions or even the ultimate nature of reality the Tao or Nirvana in nobody will say that is produced nobody will say that ultimate reality is born nobody says God was created or produced or born the dualistic religion see God is the unborn Creator God is the first cause God produces the universe but nobody says that the ultimate reality is born so that's number one hold on to that add to that what the evidence that God our Father is now producing showing in the different Upanishads the teaching that Jeeva and brahman or one reality you and Brahman we are our real reality our nature is Brahman the sentient beings and Bronwyn are one reality you and Tori are one reality Jeeva Brahma I am the identity statements which are now being trotted out by guru pada now put them together what's the first thing I said Brahman God Jehovah Allah whatever you call it ultimate reality is not produced in any tradition whatsoever one second Advaita says you and that reality are one so if that is not produced it's not born it is not created then you are not born or created or produced then put these two together what is the conclusion the conclusion is startling see all the dualistic religions say God is not produced but God produces the universe God is not created God creates the universe God is not born but we are all born of God but now if you put these two statements together then that neither is that ultimate reality born or are we born hence we are not effects products creatures and God is not of not a cause not a producer not a creator if we are not born we are not created then God cannot be called a creator there is no second thing apart from that reality only when cause-and-effect is there there is a cause and it produces an effect then you can talk of two you can talk of not duality cause producing an effect but if Brahman is neither and effect obviously God is not bara born nor does it produce us because we are also not born because we are one with God so God is not born nor does not does God give birth to anything in that case God is neither an effect not a cause if God is all that ultimate reality is beyond cause and effect then it must be non dual there's no second thing apart from it it's very interesting that I was in Columbia University last week attending conference you'll be interested in knowing what conference they are having in Columbia University way to the ways to the truth two days intensive from 8 o clock in the nine o'clock in the morning till late in the night we will get a 45 minute break for lunch ways to the truth meditative traditions in Western thought and Islamic thought now a professor of Islam in in Columbia University Sulaiman Bashir he was quoting from the OOP from the Quran and saying that there are lines in the Quran which say that for example he said mm-hmm in the beginning Allah God God alone was and nothing else was with God God alone was and nothing else was with God and the Sufis say Sufis were very close to Vedanta the Sufis say he now it is the same it sounds paradoxical how can it be the same now because everybody says look here is this vast universe millions of beings billions of beings all all change cause and effect everything is going on how can you say in the beginning only God was and nothing else was even now it is the same that only God is and nothing else's but the Sufis insist it's that we can understand immediately this is what they want to express they are expressing it in the language of paradox and poetry but we understand logically what they mean cause if God is actually neither a cause nor an effect then all this is what you can say all this is Maya and appearance not a real product or you can say all this is God all this is Brahman Rahman alone is appearing in these ways another line he quoted was it's I think it's one of the first lines in the Quran I don't know exactly Allah is neither born and nothing is born of Allah so that's the line now it makes perfect sense to us from a non-dualistic perspective not that that's what the the I mean interpretation that the main line interpretation traditional interpretation given by Muslims is not not that I read a book in which that line was quoted long time ago and the explanation was given or the explanation will not make anyone anyone of us happy the line was and this is not connected with our of course teaching today but it's interesting to see how the same thing can be understood in different ways the this original sentences Allah is not born and nothing is born of Allah and the explanation was in turn an English book written by well-known Islamic scholars it says so here we have it nothing is born of our love so Allah doesn't have a son and the Christians are wrong when they say Jesus is the Son of Allah because it cannot be born of clearly written nothing is born of Allah not only that so the Christians are wrong when they say Jesus is the Son of Allah and the Hindus are wrong again and again and again because they say many many incarnations have come so that it goes up on that track but if you take a philosophically look at it if you look at it from the Vedantic perspective it makes perfect sense man do kill him and openly should go to bother will say yes yes that's right I understand perfectly well I remember having a talk with and with a rabbi once from Jerusalem he was visiting Bell or Matt and I was giving him this this idea the truth is one I say just call it variously so it's an infinite being expressed in different ways gives rise to different religions then I said to him well I'm not trying to be patronizing I mean obviously the Jews will have a different take on religious harmony but this is our way of reading it this is our way of understanding it and some texts in in the Bible I will be talking about that I am that I am so that is a profound text from the Bible and I said of course I'm giving you a sort of apologetic as I was giving you the I'm giving you the Vedantic understanding of that statement it's obviously the Judaic understanding will be different but he said something very interesting he said no you may be correct when you have a very sophisticated understanding of this from your romantic perspective the way you understand our scripture may actually be deeper than the way we understand it though it's our tradition and thousands of years we have been but we are understanding actually maybe even more true to the original tradition than what we understand today so there was a very generous way of looking at it so once again quickly running through the logic I tend to get carried away quickly running through the logic in no tradition will they say that God is created God is uncreated is unborn second point to Vedanta says you and God are one reality third conclusion from these two if God is not created and you are one with God if Brahman is not created and Jeeva is one with Brahman that Jeeva is also not created so Jeeva is not a product of Brahman in that case G was not an effect Brahman is not a cause so brandman is beyond cause and effect being beyond cause and effect Brahman is non dual addto-item which is what he wants to prove here in this chapter so he is using arguments based on upanishadic statements the identity statements of the Upanishads to show that Brahman is non dual it is the underlying thing because this without this you know why is he once in a while keeping up giving quotations left and right yes no it is not because that is from dualistic perspective what advaita vedanta will say is that that creative aspect is an appearance fundamentally nothing new is happening it is brahman alone certainly it is appearing so that means the creation is an appearance will make shakti also an appearance of brahman that's what are the waiter does advaita plays on this fact that it will not deny that you are experiencing the world it will not deny that you are experiencing a separate identity nobody can deny that your experience even denied that's logical but what add water says is the crucial point of the waiter makes is appearance and reality are not the same no something cannot exist no nothing I'll repeat it again something can be not real and yet appear how which means something else which is real is appearing in this form so what we are experiencing as such is not the ultimate reality that's all that operator wants to say and that's that's not a terribly wild thing to say we all the time keep running up against things which appear to be one way I mean when you probe inside they appear to be quite a different so appearance and reality in fact the very words appearance and reality appearance is that which we experience but its nature when we investigate it can be quite different from what it appears to be no that's that's the thing you did that the same thing might be said about dreams same thing might be said about the Rope which are snake which appears in the rope same thing might be said about the blue color in the sky it appears but is it really blue dreams so many things happen did it really happen in comparison with a higher reality like the waking dream is dismissed as an appearance not reality in comparison with your physics knowledge the apparent blue of the sky is dismissed that the sky is not blue though it appears and notice that even after dismissing it it will still appear like that we know that it is not so but it looks like that that's the crucial point that Advaita plays upon so Brahman is beyond cause-and-effect Brahman is non-dual that's what he's trying to point out in the eleventh verse go to pada pointed out that type theory open assured points out that you are the consciousness beyond the five sheets and that one consciousness is the fundamental reality which is appearing at the entire universe and so and so forth you are one with Brahman now he's going to another Upanishad the brainerd are unique upon assured let's read it's like a crash course a lightning tour of Upanishads twelfth verse do i or do i or Madhu Ghani do I order your module yani param brahma Prakash item paramdham shittim pretty jammu dirty Chiva pretty promoter each Ava yatta kasha prakasha tub guitar kasha Prakash cheetah so dry or dry or Madhu Gianni param Brahma Prakash Edom this requires a little bit of explanation this quotation is from the fifth section of the second chapter of the brihadaranyaka upanishad it is called Madhu brahmana fifth section of the second chapter of Briony cop initial and the Upanishads we are studying is a Manduca open shot it is the smallest only 12 month Russ the braids are no combination is the biggest it's a huge work this is a collection of here we have got I think nine open shots here except the Chan dog and relearn it all the other Upanishads and that sent their commentaries by Shankar Acharya all are in this book if I take the brethren ago punishment alone will be this big so nine opening shots you put here and the braids are neck is this big and just slightly smaller might be the chandogya which is also a very big open issue so the braids are an abomination and it's a favorite of Shankar Acharya when he coats in his commentaries on different opening shots supporting quotations often not from really ironic it's a huge and difficult text to modern scholars who look at the language of the Upanishads they notice that the language of the breath arnica the way of expression is quite different from all of the other rope initials brother Anakin chandogya the expression is quaint is archaic so modern scholars say that these open ishod's are the most ancient of all they're huge and rambling and so I mean very kinda says like the Gita is like a bouquet of flowers which have been picked and made into a choice bouquet but the ooh like debris arunya can chandogya are like a forest well once in a while you will get beautiful flowers and fruits but there are thorns and there are creepers and there are dense dark patches so the braids are no combination is vast divided into chapters and chapters are divided into sections each of the sections is bigger than the entire rope ignition so one of the sections is called Madhu Bromham Madhu Brahman Brahman and here does not mean Brahman or anything like that not even Brahman the ultimate reality Brahman Amir simply means section section and Madhu means honey honey so Brahman is called honey the honey of entire existence of the universe is Brahman it's a very poetic way of referring to when you it makes sense in America and you call honey husband wife children you called honey so when you when you like or loved somebody who can honey so in the same way Brahman is called honey Madhu why because two reasons one is honey is the essence another reason is honey is sweetness it gives sweetness and happiness so Brahman as such it Ananda is the essence of the entire universe and it is fulfillment it is infinite bliss so in that sense in the sense of bliss in a sense of essence it is the honey of everything now that's one thing the open Ishod expresses the entire union as the honey of this entire universe the essence of the entire you the reality of the entire universe how does it do so that's also a unique approach what it does is it takes the macrocosm and the microcosm what is macrocosm the entire universe what is microcosm us we just not the pure consciousness the way we experience ourselves as this person so this person this individual being is the microcosm and the huge universe which we acquire find ourselves in is the macrocosm the objective universe is the macrocosm the subjective is the microcosm what the open Ishod in this module brahmana section dealing with honey honey means brahmanas honey the ultimate reality as honey so what it does is it takes something from the macrocosm and something from the microcosm and shows the same reality is in the microcosm as well as the microcosm that which is Brahman within you is Brahman in the entire universe it appears as something there and it appears as something in you what what do I mean I'll give you an example goda pada takes one example it takes pairs one thing from us and one thing from the universe and shows behind both is the same Brahman basically meaning that Brahman is the essence of the entire universe so earth oh pretty be the earth which is in the universe and earth which is here in this body the essence of this and the essence the earth here and the earth in the universe both are actually nothing but Brahman the same problem what do you mean earth earth means this physical body is made of multiple elements including earth and what do you mean by Earth's there it means basically the entire matter all matter in the universe so the reality of all matter in the universe is Brahman and the reality of matter in your body is Brahman so the vast matter pre TV and order of literally in in in my tummy the earth here in this body basically they are one reality Brahman then it will go on and say the water in all the oceans of the world and the water in my body basically that water is none other than bruh man this water is none other than from Earth and that Brahman you are then it will say the mass of Radiance called the Sun and the radiance in your eye which he uses the Sun to see basically they are actually the same Brahman the same existence consciousness please it says the fire in the universe and your speech he speaks fire so you're the organ of speech in the microcosm they are one reality Brahman you can see it's a very new way odd or less a new very ancient way of expressing this when we do not normally talk in this way so and that is the the honey there the essence of the universe the honey of the entire universe and the honey within your body are one and the same thing that is Brahman and it goes on like this it keeps on taking pairs one one from the external universe and one from within you what you consider yourself to be I consider this body and mind and speech and organs all of it this is who I am a sense of this and a sense of the universe is Brahman that's the essence the honey of the teaching as we go into it you will notice it's not exactly what I said I'm giving you the gist the honey of it the way it is presented is actually more complicated but it doesn't matter I'm giving you the essence what they want to say I would like to read out one of these passages the first one which go to power himself refers to the earth of the entire universe matter of the entire universe matter within us is one reality and that reality is Brahman but if you read the original and very archaic ancient Sanskrit it is beautiful I mean it is almost unearthly I'll read out the original and translate for you so this is from this is the Briony combination in an English translation it's slightly smaller because it doesn't have the sanskrit commentary of Shankara chair it has only got the English English original Sanskrit original Upanishad English translation the English translation of the Sanskrit commentry so let me let me fifth section of second chapter let me read out one passage and translate and you see what it actually it sounds like I am pretty reservation bhutanam module I see a pretty blazer Varney mutiny mod whoo yes I am Assam pretty diem tej Oh Maya mom Rita Maya Purusha ha yes Chaya mad at mom Shari raha tej oh my arm Rita Maya purusa ha I am a was so iam at ma a dhama rhythm in Ambrym ha Edom saruba what does it mean this earth is the honey of all beings all beings are honey to this earth so you see it literally does not say Brahman is the honey to all everything but it just puts it this way this universe is honey to all beings and all beings are honey to the universe or to the earth and that which which is within this individual being within this in between each of us that which is de Jour my Umbra tamiya Purusha the the bright conscious immortal being within us Purusha being entity deja Maya filled with radiance which is consciousness Amrita Maya which is immortal immortal means pure being so the pure being consciousness within us yes Giardia Tom Schaad ear also I am I am rhythm Presidium so that which is the infinite conscious being within the earth and that which is the infinite conscious being within us is the same and what is that I am a ever so I am at MA it is the self it is you it is the real you what is the apparent you body mind complex what I think myself to be individual being microcosm and that self that Brahman that self Adam mam rhythm it is immortal it is immortal immortal and immortality by really realizing this the mortal being becomes immortal or realizes one's immortality Adam drama it is the it is Brahman the ultimate reality of the universe atoms are v''m it is indeed a breathing everything that you see in this universe is that I didn't do too good a job of translating what it says is this earth is like honey to all beings and all beings are like honey to this earth the shining immortal being who is in this earth and the shining immortal being within this body are but this self self means you this self the self knowledge knowing the self in this way is the means to immortality you become immortal by knowing yourself in this way this underlying unity is Brahman this underlying unity of the universe is Brahman this knowledge of Breman is the means of becoming one with the universe atoms are one when you become one with everything in the universe not force it is consciousness it is it is radiance it look at the word used very beautiful it's a stage oh my Amrita my approach AHA Teja may have filled with radians or blazing forth and Amrita Maya in bottle Amrita Maryam is filled with immortality or immortal itself yes think about it this way we are radiant beings look at it right now look at our experience right now our experience is of radiance if you look at it that way you're shining forth with consciousness all the time you see you hear you smell you taste you think you remember you forget you you enjoy you suffer you aspire you are happy you are sad you live you die all of that is in awareness that awareness is limited into a million tiny experiences that's why we life but if you remove the name and form from it just look at the awareness itself you would be you would experience what in a Gita is called as if a thousand suns rose in the sky at once the sky is not just its figurative the sky is our own inner sky of our experience imagine a thousand suns rising there what is that it's you the consciousness we experience it in a fractured sliced-up manner and that's what we call our life oh my life is ordinary and boring no it is not it is more radiant than the most radiant aluminum like supernova or something you're continuously blazing forth with consciousness and in your consciousness life is playing out that is the radiance yes right so there's the question there is existence consciousness bliss an attribute of Brahman no there's a discussion about this innovative event it's the very nature of Brahman like you are saying blue sky blue is the attribute of the sky in that sentence it's an objective but sky is not an attribute of sky so when you say Brahman is such a dawn and it's not that Brahman is something which is such and under rather sat-chit-ananda itself is Brahman let's put it this way Swami Vivekananda his coat he makes this point it is not that Brahman exists it is existence itself it is not that Brahman is happy it is happiness itself it is not that Brahman knows something it is knowledge itself that is what is meant by being consciousness being it's not something a being which has consciousness like we consider ourselves sometimes I'm conscious sometimes I'm unconscious sometimes I'm less conscious after a cup of coffee I'm more conscious know that that's treating consciousness is an attribute but Brahman is not like that Brahman is consciousness itself it's not an adjective it's not a verb so when you say it is the witness of all things so it's is it a verb is it witnessing no it's like light shining forth and because of that light shining forth witnessing happens in that sense and you are that it says that either I am Atma that is the self you are this self okay let's move ahead I'm going to make a quick point here and go to powder does that in to verses 13 and 14 okay 13 and 14 see what happens right now yet so what we have done here is 12th verse dry or dry or Madonna Madonna means in the section dealing with Brahman as honey it just says that and we're supposed to understand it is the Brea dernakova Nisha chapter two fifth section and this is the it's a long section which takes a pairs of things in the universe and in us and shows the underlying unity so that's what he says dry or dry or mahogany in the pairs which are taken up in the chapter on Brahman as honey param Rama Prakash eat'em the ultimate reality Brahman has been Prakash eaten explained taught displayed the tip yama derecho eva just as one example he takes as in the earth the brahman and in in oneself the brahman that is the first one the first second paragraph which we just chanted just now guitar car shock Takeshita just like the example which I have been giving all along his favorite example sky the great sky and the sky in the pot which example which he used now before he goes ahead he he answers a possible inevitable objection the objection is from a duelist he says where the duelist says wait a minute you are selectively coating from the Upanishads there are identity statements in the Upanishads which say you are drummond certainly thought to AMA see is there a hum brahmasmi I and is there and there are many such identity statements including the more convoluted ones which you just coated right now so there are these identity statements but there are also dualistic statements in the opening shots number of them any number of them for example Mundaka Upanishad says the two birds do a super NASA you JA Sequoia semana ricochet padishah Swati there's a higher burden the lower bird they sit on the same tree higher bird represents God and lower bird represents the individual but for our purpose notice this to dois super not two birds so isn't it dualism God and you are separate the Mundaka Upanishad itself talks about the creation of the universe note you said that nothing is created from Rahman it talks about the creation of the universe it says just like a spider spins a web youth or non-obvious regio tigran hot eh just as a spider spins and withdraws a web just as from the earth shrubs and plants emerge just as from a living human body hair and nails emerge exactly in the same way from the imperishable ultimate reality the universe emerges the rock Sharad some bhavati have shown so what about that these are all there are texts which are dualistic the texts which talk about the creation of the universe so the answer given by goethe pada is given in verses 12 and 13 and 14 13 gee Batman or on an utrom jihad man or an anthem of a precious city budino precious City no not when India th9 in dirty yet the deivam he summons awesome that even he summoned Jason Gore apostle you're right but also note one thing the Upanishads continuously praised unity eulogize unity oneness and they decry condemn difference separation duality so there are a number of statements and open issues which say oneness is what is what is to be attained realized that which sets you free so there are many statements praising unity for example the issue open assured says that trachoma hoc ashoka a kata Manu peseta when one sees oneness what sorrow remains what delusion remains which is a praise of oneness you see oneness and there are condemnations of experience of duality for example Shankar Acharya gives a number of statements duty hard way by Ambati relative upon assured from duality comes fear fear means samsara from duality from a sense of difference come samsara I like this I dislike that then I want to get this animal to avoid that some sort starts with you for you then another example Oh Doraemon Dharam karate atratus abhayam bhavati tightly reopen Ishod the one who sees the slightest difference in this world for that person fear comes fear means some sorrow comes terror comes you might say I'm not terrified I'm okay in general we're okay but overall you will see samsara birth and death sorrow change chasing this going this round of birth tender again and again if one could see take a overall picture of what we are going through we would be terrified so this is terror comes to the one who sees difference in this world I am different from that one immediately fear comes fear means love hatred all of that at the background of even love and hit love or desire also is fear then another statement with do some resume up no T here Nani machete from katha upanishad the one who sees duality here the one who sees duality here that one goes from death to death will do so much to mop notice that one goes from death to death until we realize that we are all one reality and that is my own self the Atma Brahman until that time life and death he could have said what that one goes from life to life this is not and goes from death to death means the same thing but some more discouraging statement so the point here is our unity is praised and difference is decried condemned therefore Upanishads are teaching oneness Upanishads are not teaching duality but still the issue remains then why should dualistic statements which are clearly there why should they be there in the opening of the talk why should they be there so the answer is in the next verse he says they are there remember these are all a process of enlightenment they are like steps towards enlightenment dualistic statements are given because we need it if you straightaway say you are Brahman makes no sense to me but if you tell tell me or there is a Brahman the ultimate reality here look at yourself body mind and like that you go back to consciousness you realize that consciousness alone is Brahman oh I am Brahman it makes sense to me but you must make a start with dualistic statements so those dualistic statements which are there in the open ishod's they are there just to achieve the ultimate non duality keeping in view the future the non duality to be achieved dualistic statements aren't given not as the teaching of the Upanishads the point of the Upanishads are not those dualistic statements they are taken as steps to non duality so for example type theory open assured if you go to the original text to find out Who am I I am the witness consciousness instead of saying that it first says literally says annamaya Atma body is the self it does not say body is a sheet kosha body is the self then prana is the self mind is the self then which is the self all of the not called herself the whole is like a process like a ladder you abandoned the idea that the body is a self next you abandon the idea that the plan has a cell you have been done the idea that the mind is the self but to help you to do that each one is said so if you somebody takes that see it says body is the self done open I show the start body is the self finished no read it through to the end what does it mean read the whole text true it says you are the witness consciousness all of them are like sheets five sheets that is what God our Father says he says those dualistic statements are like steps pointing towards the ultimate non duality you just read that and conclude GE watt mono protect from yet Jeeva Vinita come yet Robert Patel prakit item Prabhu Patel track it item bhavish ad pretty aghanim that bravas trip Tiago haunted maka Tom Hina you JT maka - Amina you jetty this difference between the ultimate reality and individual being Jeeva and Brahman jivatma Paramatma difference protect omits difference which has been mentioned again and again in the opening shots before the ultimate teaching about non duality proud potato rocket item before the ultimate teaching of non-duality bhavish shadrach TIA they are meant as there's a technical term which means something is said right now but it is meant to show you something in the future like a step to the ultimate non dual teaching dualistic statements are made as steps to the ultimate non-dualistic teaching go numb tongue that they are secondary macadam nya jete you should not take them as the primary meaning of the of the Upanishad so he dismisses with a potentially powerful objection which the duelists have so why do all these other texts are there those texts are meant to like a ladder like a process of teaching ultimately to non-dualism ohm shanthi shanthi shanthi hurry he own that sat sri ramakrishna Aparna must