Video 48

49. Mandukya Upanishad | Chapter 3 Karika 40-42

so let us start with the shanti mantra ombudsman so we are in the third chapter of the mandukya karika and the third chapter aims to demonstrate the non-duality that there is one non-dual reality one without a second with tries to demonstrate it with reason based on experience and you are that non-dual reality so godapad has come to this position where he reduces the entire teaching to what he calls no mind amani bhava basically we saw no mind does not mean not thinking becoming mindless or brainless or something like that not falling asleep not going into a coma or something like that or not even remaining all the time in samadhi no no mind basically means spiritualization of the mind so the mind which is the source of samsara and trouble no longer becomes the source of samsara and trouble in fact it as the bhagavad-gita says the mind itself is your best friend the mind itself is your greatest enemy so how to make this mind which is our greatest enemy into our best friend that's another way of putting it no mind mind becomes no mind and we saw also godhapada says how is it how is this accomplished it's accomplished through atma satyanub by an awakening a realization of the real nature of the self who am i or what am i and in the manduka format this what am i is our entire experience the waker and the waker's world what we what we see right now what we're experiencing right now when you fall asleep the dreamer and the dream world and the deep sleeper and the deep sleep potential the darkness in in sanskrit the uh vishwa in in the jagrat the waker in the waking world the taijasa in the swapna and the pragya in the sushupti this is what we normally think of ourselves that's our experience of life and what the manduk has shown is no you are actually not the waker you are actually not the dreamer you're actually not the deep sleeper you are the one consciousness uh in the which is the background of all of these three you are not defined by the waker the person here nor as you as in fact you are not limited by your experience in the dream when you wake up from the dream you realize i was not that i was not that i'm free of that so i am the turiya the fourth the pure consciousness beyond the waker the dreamer and the deep sleeper and yet this fourth this pure consciousness is also the underlying reality of the waker dreamer deep sleeper you the fort alone the pure consciousness the turia you alone appear as the waker in the waker's world much as you the waker right now you realize that i alone was in the dream everything in the dream indeed i was that my mind became all of that and the person in the dream who was experiencing all that i alone was that do you see that experience would you argue with me if you understand the relationship between waking and dreaming if you understand the relationship between waking and dreaming you will understand the relationship between waking and enlightenment waking from waking what happens when you wake up from a dream you suddenly realize first of all oh that was a dream this is real not only that you realize that everything in the dream in the dream what what did it look like i am there and a lot of other things besides me is going on just like a baking experience you didn't know you were dreaming you felt it was like a waking experience and every waking experience is basically subject and object you are there and a lot of other people are there and things are going on in the world and that world seems different from you those people seem different from you right so that's what your experience was like and yet when you wake up what is the realization oh that was a dream and immediately comes easily automatically comes to realization everything in the dream i alone was which is a big difference from what it felt like in the dream in the dream it felt i am there and everything else is there but now when you wake up you feel everything in the dream i alone was all of that i means my mind alone became all of that and i who was in the dream that too i was and all of that was not real it's my waking mind which became all of that exactly like that upon waking up upon enlightenment what happens is not that you snap up the difference is this because the dream is an example the difference is this not that you'll suddenly wake up in a different world altogether like it happens in waking and dreaming you'd wake up in a different world you are now sitting in your bed you you thought you were in mumbai you had here you are in manhattan he's hot ever in a shopping mall now here you are in sitting up in your bedroom it's a different world or all together which happens in your waking dreaming and baking but upon enlightenment you don't wake up into a new world you wake up into your real nature which is appearing as this world you still see the same thing there's a big difference between this dream example and enlightenment your eyes will still see things ears will still hear sound the senses will function the mind will function the world as it is it will appear but now you're suddenly aware of awareness itself of a very deep dimension of existence in which all of this is appearing so to that extent it's like dreaming but to a certain extent it's not like dreaming also this difference must be understood that's why teacher is necessary once you think when once you hear things like oh it's like waking up from a dream you feel that oh when you become enlightened you realize that all this will disappear and some kind of some brahman will appear some burst of light or something like that no no same word but again not same profoundly different so i am that one that that one without a second that consciousness brahman thuriyam whatever you call it which is appearing as this entire world experience you realize that this is called atma satyanub once you have that that mind becomes no mind the mind is no longer an obstacle imagine your mind in the dream state all the terrors and and the anxieties it gave rise to once you wake up from that none of that affects you anymore you can laugh it off okay it was a bad dream or you can laugh it off exactly in the same way once you snap out of this right here this this world of terrors and temptations of fascination and fear it no longer affects you you rise above it or you you are aware of a transcendent dimension to you you're no longer trapped in this all right if only it happens but it doesn't it's not that easy that's what god apart is coming to know that awakening to that doesn't seem to happen all that easily so now the next few verses are on vedantic meditation so this vedantic meditation why why this vedantic meditation after all i have read it all i have studied it i have understood it now what remains yes you have to stay with it why do you have to stay with it if you wake up from your dream into the waking nobody says they have to practice lot of waking meditation to stay away from the dream no it happens it's automatically you're awake and you're safe from the dream why doesn't it happen like that so here we have to go back to the very beginning of vedanta remember when you start vedanta you're told about the fourfold qualification now at the end of ours or towards the end of our study we suddenly realize the overwhelming importance of those fourfold qualifications why vedanta works why doesn't it work the four-fold qualification do you remember hopefully this is the thing to remember now if you don't remember now it's the time to remember viveka the discernment between the eternal and the non-eternal between the ultimate reality and what is appear reality and appearance then what is vairagya renunciation a dispassion for the non-eternal for the changing temporal order of things um that is vairagya then the six-fold treasure shama dharma will come to that later just i'm eliminating shama control of the mind dharma control of the senses uparati withdrawal from uh worldly senseless enjoyment samadhana the mind which has been withdrawn now must be focused on vedanta on this knowledge then titiksha a spiritual fortitude no matter what comes i will stick to it i am searching for enlightenment then shraddha a deep faith that what is given here is true i might not understand it right now but let me pursue it until i realize it so to that extent a working faith and then the mummakshutwam an intense desire to be free of the travails of life free of suffering so these are the fourfold qualification now now suddenly it will become relevant again we'll see how why it is so tremendously important it is those whose minds already have these fourfold qualifications for them vedanta works directly those who do not have it sufficiently for them vedanta does not seem to work now when it works directly vedanta works and gives its results what will happen to such people the people be called enlightened they'll have two-fold result one is called the two results of gyana enlightenment what are the results of enlightenment the primary result is moksha freedom they will be free of suffering they will not be reborn again the cycle of birth and death which is the basic paradigm in which not only hindus but buddhists jains sikhs in indian philosophies tend to look at life you are free of that limitation you are free you are released into your infinite nature so that's the freedom the spiritual freedom that's the goal of all of these philosophies free of suffering entertainment of true lasting peace attainment of ultimate peace or joy that's result one see that's great what else is required well one more thing is required as long as you are still alive in this particular body even after enlightenment the saints the enlightened people luckily for us they continue to live for some time so in that bodily life also you the pure consciousness you still are like everybody else present in this world and the enlightened person manifests glorious qualities extraordinary qualities serenity and peace and love and unselfishness self-control all naturally come to this person a great purity a great concern for the welfare of others which are basically the qualities we see in the great spiritual teachers of humanity so these manifest automatically so this is when things go as planned as what is it called textbook approach so you have got the fourfold qualifications and it manifests and good but alas not all of it works most of us will complain no it is not i am unfortunately nowhere near that whether i will get the final liberation after death never come back again i don't know i don't even know whether i had past life without future lives so that's entirely theoretical and having the qualities of a saint right now i must be honest i don't have them so vedanta is not working it's not delivering what it promised so what's gone wrong the the uh the lacuna the the missing link is the lack of the fourfold qualifications it's not sufficient and so what one must do now is practice even after you have studied this most highest teaching if you find the results are not evident in your day-to-day life uh let me give you the name it's called jivan mukti that's the second result of enlightenment first result moksha or more technically bidet liberation after death you will never be born into a limited form form again never come back to samsara again you exist as the infinite brahman all right but also secondarily the result should be with a given mukti while you are in this body also you are free you are an enlightened being that result also should be there now for those it it does not work the terms are mandakari madhyamadikari the one with minimal qualifications and one with uh with imperfect qualifications the middle middle seeker middle ground seeker and the lowest ground seeker none of us here are without qualifications we are by the very fact that you are here at four o'clock on on a wednesday afternoon to listen to an arcane ancient philosophy shows an intense spiritual desire so it's there we have it we are spiritual seekers all of us you may not think of yourself in that light that oh i'm a spiritual seeker to some extent you must be otherwise why would you be here especially those who have been coming again and again and again studying and pursuing it for years together we are spiritual seekers so we have those qualifications but not enough not enough and those have to be developed so there is something called uttama dhikari the most excellent spiritual seeker those who have those qualifications there is the madhyamadikari the middle ground spirit spiritual seeker with whom we would consider a wonderful person but not good enough apparently and then they are the lower ground the um mandel it really means slow the the seeker who is a seeker but also has many issues so those have to be worked out now among these two both of whom have problems the two kinds of problems which will come there is the the the mandate the lowest category of seekers who are still who are still definitely spiritual seekers who have the spiritual aspiration but due to impurity of mind due to lack of these qualifications what happens is this teaching does not take hold so the complaint will be i don't get it it sounds fascinating but it's not very clear and a variety of misunderstandings or no understanding some of our swami i remember one swami who used to teach us when we are novices um he was like we said we used to say all around you know he was fat like a fat buddha very fair and all round and he had this huge head which would go red his face would go red and he would glare at us and in voice you would say [Music] no understanding a little understanding or misunderstanding so that is the problem with the the uh the first group of seekers who whose qualifications are not good enough in the lowest category um so it does not make much of an impact maybe you are interested but it's not very clear or mistakes many mistakes just talking with such a person will throw up lot of issues and questions and problems so what does this person do this lowest category of of the the primary category of seekers so for them what is recommended is you go on with your vedantic pursuit go on studying but the emphasis should be on spiritual practices like upasana and karma karma yoga bhakti yoga raja yoga karma yoga unselfish action dedicated to god to purify the mind bhakti yoga a devotional practice devotional devotion to what to saguna brahman brahman in the form of you know the the what you can call the god of religion which is none other than the absolute but in with a particular name and form so bhakti yoga and raja yoga meditation concentration focus focus so these practices over a long period of time makes the mind ready what what will these practices do they will generate the fourfold qualifications give the six treasures an intense desire to be free they will generate intense desire for enlightenment no swami not much i mean i would like to be enlightened but not all that much so all right that must come that must come eventually it will come to everybody and when it comes you know that enlightenment is very close to generate that these practices are necessary so these practices must go hand in hand with vedantic study in fact vedantic study is secondary in these cases we must continue keep coming to the class but definitely do not neglect your spiritual practices there is another category um seekers the middle ground what is their difference from the first round for the first group their difference is this group of people will say i get it they really feel they have got what vedanta teaches it's very clear to them they understand the teachings they are fascinated by it and it seems true to them it seems true it's it's they've got they've got clarity they've got conviction and yet one problem remains the problem remains they will say i get it but you're saying that i will find deep and lasting joy and i'll be i will be able to overcome all sorrows but that's not really happening it still feels intellectual it still feels like i have understood something and it's a fantastic thing which i've understood but the results are not evident in my life am i able to overcome say an insult or an illness overcome in what sense remember spiritually overcoming suffering here's a little note footnote in what sense i have a toothache if i'm spiritual enough will my toothache go away i'm i'm in trouble with the what happened oh this one here i'm in trouble with the irs so if i'm spiritual enough will the irs go irs go away no no then in what sense um overcoming suffering in what sense the professor who was here sarindam chakravarti in his i heard his talk in stony brook where he quoted something from the buddha very interesting thing he quoted from the buddha he said in one of the original pali texts the buddha says dukkha so the buddhism is very big on dukkha dukkha means suffering from physical suffering to mental suffering to existential suffering even if all other things have been taken care of even just existential angst you know so dukkha what is the nature of suffering and the buddha says suffering is like a man who is hit by an arrow imagine how it stings and hurts and immediately he's hit by a second arrow so imagine how much it hurts the suffering now the first arrow is what is hap actually happening in the world maybe a sickness maybe some kind of problem an accident maybe somebody behaves badly the actual event in the world it could be in the world it could be in the body something there and the second arrow is the internal suffering the reaction within oh it's so awful it's so horrible i'm i'm undone i'm in terrible pain what yes so this is the second arrow now most of our suffering is because of the second arrow it's a reaction you may not think so isn't it more awful what is happening in the world rather than what we think about it i get an illness and then what i think about it that secondary illness is the most important thing no no not really just yesterday we're reading the description of sri krishna who's got cancer of the throat at that time terminal cancer and the description is again and again how joyfully he is walking around and talking to people this beaming with joy how is it possible the disease is there it's real it's painful it's awful and yet he continuously manages to transcend it how so it's the second arrow which is more important the real suffering i don't i mentioned it other times i attended a medical conference for a doctor it was on pain management and a doctor said 80 of our suffering is is not physical it's how we react to the physical suffering it was a doctor it was a session on chronic pain managing chronic pain so he said 80 percent of it and he went on to say unfortunately our analgesics our painkillers they deal only with the 20 physical pain and that too he says half the time they don't work but 100 of the time they have side effects but 80 percent of the pain is psychological our reactions we don't think so but it is like that it's that second arrow so the buddha says what spirituality can do for you yes example who self-simulated himself in vietnam the monk yes he was burning himself no no journalists no one saw any any problem in himself he was just sitting there meditating and there are many such examples the great spiritual teachers they all died when they died the body died and so many of them had diseases and that as just like everybody else it's a great demonstration of the power of spirituality that you can actually transcend suffering it is there and yet it's as if not there so it's really something incredible so the buddha says i can remove buddhism in general spirituality can remove the suffering caused by the second arrow which is most of the suffering which is the real suffering so you transcend that what it means is the external problems will go on they are produced by our karma and they will go on as long as we have got karma they will be produced good and bad will keep coming but it enables you to transcend them and that's actually an accurate description when you look at the lives of the saints of those who consider to be enlightened very spiritual people throughout history did they not suffer did they not you seem doubtful anybody look at the lives of they all suffered and all kinds of sufferings and sometimes much more than other people it seems so they had those things then you might say then what do you mean vedanta promises spirituality will take you beyond suffering suramar krishna had both cancer of the throat swami vivekananda had a number of diseases he died at the age of 39. so how do you say that vedanta takes away suffering so what is what is meant by spirituality taking away suffering is not that one physical world has its own rules its own causality and that will go on okay so this is an important footnote to keep in mind but even that doesn't seem to happen when the qualifications are not there so the second category says that i have understood vedanta it's very clear to me i am convinced by me i'm sold and i'm convinced by it but it's not giving the advertised results the second arrow still stings a little bit at least it's still there it creates suffering inside me how it's not yet a living reality for me now why i'm saying all this now it brings us to the topic of which is which has started now i'll come to you so what is necessary for the second group if you are convinced by it if you are it's clear to you but it must become a living reality for you now remember the first group nothing is required they're already enlightened they don't need any of this second group needs an intense dose of a special kind of practice which is going to mention which is basically vedantic meditation so what he is going to talk about till the end of this chapter now is a special kind of practice which is useful basically it consists of staying with the teaching you have understood it yes is it clear to you yes is it are you convinced yes now stay with it i'll come to both of you but remember for whom will it not work have you understood it no not quite then then this practice is not for you is it clear to you is it are you convinced about it no no no not quite then this practice is not for you then what is what is recommended for you the earlier one continue your vedantic study meditate bhakti yoga karma yoga all of those things for what for generating the fourfold qualifications which will bring you to this stage yeah all right just if i quickly correctly two uh lessons ago uh you said that even if you don't achieve enlightenment in this life but if you manage to have a breakthrough and you manage to sustain it yeah it will lead to liberation yes correct so you still have to live your life you're not enlightened but at the moment of death you're liberated yes yes you're good that was a pretty good observation in fact the second group whom we are going to talk about now even in the second group there is a range and those who are at the top of the range are exactly what you what you mentioned now they have already had a breakthrough for them it's clear they know what is the nature what's how do you know it's clear or not are you still a seeker or have you found it if you're clear that you have found it now your only problem is to stay with it is to pervade your life with it if you still feel no it's still theoretical for me still i've got to do certain things or get certain experiences then i'm still a seeker but now you know what we are talking about now it's very clear to you if that is your breakthrough then you are in that second stage definitely and you will benefit in enormously by this practice which is going to be recommended now holy mother mashaarada she put it in a very simple way to somebody whom she initiated she is giving initiation means that person is free ultimately after this but no more i mean she's that person is free from the cycle of birth and death so this person asked her i have been initiated given a mantra by you do i need to do any more spiritual practice and she immediately understood what he was asking and i i guess it was he and she said to him that my child it is done for you you will be liberated at the time of your death but if you want to taste the joy of spiritual liberation here she simply said if you want to taste the joy then you must practice here so this is what is discussed in by gaurav padha or in most detail it's discussed by vidyaan swami in his book jivan muktibi veka it's a dissertation on enlightenment while living for such people freedom after death is guaranteed those are the best top one percentile of that second category first category it's already done but that category freedom after death is guaranteed but right now if you would like to get the full benefit of a day right now starting now then this is what you need to do and it also makes sense if you look at the lives of the direct disciples of sri ramakrishna notice how even after the passing of sri ramakrishna these are monks they all had extraordinary spiritual experiences during the lifetime of sri ramakrishna and how much practice they did afterwards why every time they were asked swami shivananda was asked why do you do all this you have already got these swami brahmananda was asked and they replied the same reply what he gave us we are trying to make it our own becoming established in it all right quickly i'll come to you quickly what if the breaks were only lasting 5-10 minutes or 30 minutes does that count then it's not a breakthrough no it's a it's not not valueless it is valuable we all listen we are all spiritual seekers so we will get these insights and breakthroughs but the breakthrough i am talking about is an advaithic vedantic breakthrough about your nature historia your nature has it gone away does it last for 30 minutes do you last for 30 minutes no so it's a breakthrough about your real nature not any other breaks i'm talking about it's an insight into this vedantic teaching remember when i say inside breakthrough i mean insight about this teaching i am brahmana if it's really a breakthrough nothing that you can do will drive it away it still will be there you see swami this is great then what else needs to be done oh a lot needs to be done this breakthrough must be made practical must be swami vekandi says at the level of speech and daily actions it must be manifested in life it is still possible to say i know the reality but i'm still suffering i'm still affected by the world you know uttarakhand they say in the himalayas they were saying in hindi it has carries more punch this is a peculiar problem of advaitans non-dualists they say rothawa an enlightened person who's still complaining and grumbling and crying i've got this problem that person said such such thing to me i have met a person great vedantic scholar a very senior monk um he was a teacher of atma priyandeji we all knew him that he was passed away long ago thing is he would fly into a rage and so somebody asked him swami you are one of the best vedanta teachers here he and he looked the part he had long wide-flowing beard and a top knot and very nice and he used to be feel very hot all the time so he had a little bamboo fan with which he would fan himself and if you bow down to him his blessings would be given with the fan he would hit you on the head with that fan i also got a number of knocks anyway he's really a great swami and a great teacher but he would lose his temper really fast so we asked him and his explanation would be yes he would hear a high pitched twice so what he would say so what i see the rising of anger in the mind and the angry mind and they gain the peaceful mind well all right you see it but it's we still feel the brunt of your anger so so i don't know i'm with all due respect to the swami he's a great person but um it seems to be a case like this the second group which makes a breakthrough but still it has to be your life has to be spiritualized every aspect of your life has to be spiritualized accept yes gospel the first stage you got the throng second throng internal you take it out then throw all thorns of spirituality right no that first thought and the second thorn uh that yeah that applies to both third state knowledge yes it applies to both only the the highest ones they don't require any more yeah they are the jivan muktas but if you have a deep vedantic see if vedanta becomes more and more clear to you and yet you honestly feel i am not an enlightened while living free while living jivan mukta then you are in this stage and then you will benefit from these practices let's go into those practices it's nothing more than vedantic meditation and god or father will talk about it in the remaining verses of this chapter what is vedantic meditation staying with the teaching staying with the breakthrough let me make it even more specific and say what breakthrough all right back to third stage back back to uh i remember when i was a little kid they would they would promote bright kids two classes at a time sometimes in those days i don't think they do it anymore double promotion so i got admitted to a new school i still remember one of the greatest humiliations of my life i got admitted to a new school and in the for grade one i think and the teacher said oh you are well above this level so you go to grade two i went to grade two and i came back home i didn't even know it was a great thing i came back home and told my mom she was so delighted she called up all the relatives and boasted about her how on the first day of school her son had gotten promoted so the next day i went to grade two and they said no no you can't be here you don't know these things you have to go back to grade one so i went back to grade one it was nothing to me which is apparently a very big deal to my mother so i i guess i always carried a mild trauma after when i the reaction she had when i told her about how she would have to roll back all those press releases releases to no one great teacher whom i consider to be one of the few jeevan mukhtar's i have met in this life enlightened by living he was a wandering monk in the himalayas and in kareshwar he would often say wistful he would say your truth means you don't have to tell anybody we look into our own minds and we know how we'll see how where i am at what's my level and start there what's the problem you are brahmana as much as vivekananda ramakrishna we are brahman as much as the greatest and given mukta who ever lived you are already that nobody can take that away from you you just need to polish the mirror to manifest it more so start where you are they give the example in the upanishad the three examples are like smoke covering a fire like dust covering a mirror and the fetus being covered by a skin now the three levels of obstacles smoke covering the fire you just blow on it it'll go away and the fire blazes forth but the mirror it's not enough to blow you have to polish the mirror you to scrub it then it will shine and the case of the child you to wait till it is burned it takes much longer it's not all that easy so these are the levels and these are all the levels of obstacles at the second level so there's a whole range there so the what is prescribed there is not so much karma yoga bhakti yoga but vedantic meditation the word for which is needed verse number 40. we have done up to verse number 39. [Music] control of the mind this is the only way this is the only way sarva yoginam for all seekers ultimately everybody has to come to this um what was earlier called no mind is now being called control of the mind manasonica for all practitioners beginners medium advanced level whoever is seeking enlightenment they have to ultimately come to this point what will it give prabhu prabhudha means for enlightenment control of the mind is essential and the results of enlightenment what are the results of enlightenment means destruction of sorrow transcendence of sorrow in the second in the sense of the second arrow transcendence of sorrow endless peace a deep profound everlasting unshakeable peace joy abhayam fearlessness that is the sign of enlightenment nothing scares you anymore what can scare you death doesn't hold any terrors for you neither death nor insult nor financial ruin nor bad bad luck nor misbehavior of others none of that is absolutely it doesn't leave any trace upon you because you have found something which transcends all of these these are not touched you have found absolute security abhayam in fact in the upanishads instead of enlightenment the word fearlessness is used when janaka the emperor attains enlightenment his guru tells him oh janaka oh emperor thou hast attained fearlessness enlightenment and true fearlessness and this fearlessness this enlightenment is non-dualism there is no second reality apart from you the thorium the the pure consciousness just the opposite is samsara in the upanishads when there is a second entity apart from you fear arises samsara arises but you realize everything is i myself what once you wake up from the dream what is it in the dream which person which monster scares you nothing nothing when you are in the dream and you don't know it's a dream a little monkey's camping around can scare you and when you wake up from the dream even if you are dreamt of king kong it still won't scare you why because you know it is i by itself which appeared in that form so you go beyond fear abhayam by prabhupada one of the signs of enlightened persons that they have absolutely no fear of anything in this universe so prabhuda enlightenment that depends on manoni control of the mind and its results destruction of sorrow the depends on control of the mind akshaya shanti endless peace that is attainment of joy and peace that also follows from control of the mind abhayam fearlessness ultimately is the result of this control of the mind here is going to talk about control of the mind what he means here is vedantic meditation staying with that clarity continuously for a long period of time bano here you have to relate it back to the fourfold qualifications we talked about specifically you will see number three in those four fold qualifications are the six treasures six treasures they all relate to this control of the mind what are the six treasures don't get confused fourfold qualifications six treasures what are the six treasures control of the mind literally this thing don't let the mind run amok dhamma control of the senses just because you have a hand doesn't mean you keep grasping things just because you have legs doesn't mean you'll keep running around control of the senses they are instruments meant to be used and kept aside control of the sense of the senses damaha then uparati withdrawal from sensuousness from rati means sensual enjoyment withdrawal from sensual injury if you pour your psychic energy into into the senses seeing hearing smelling tasting touching then there's nothing left over for vedanta you must withdraw from that of course you will eat of course you will eat and drink and watch the occasional tv show that's all right but it should not be that that is my source of satisfaction and that is important in any way no it is not uparati the opposite of rati then that mind so withdrawn now must be focused on this knowledge samadhi samadhan it really means keeping it in one place um collecting it and keeping it in one place a spiritual fortitude problems will be there in the world health problems will be there in the body um sometimes the mind will be interested in vedanta sometimes it will not be interested remember body mind they are all instruments i am not here to obey the dictates of the body mind they are here to fulfill my purpose in life so tritiksha means that spiritual toughness come what may in life i will pursue enlightenment i will turn up for the wednesday class yeah most of you are anyway so that's the diksha come snow or rain and new york can test you in many ways traffic whatever i will turn up for the class that's the spiritual toughness to pursue your goal no matter what and then shraddha shaddai is a deep faith it's true it's real i have not realized it yet but many who have preceded me have realized it and i must realize it too and i will do it in this life so this kind of faith in the teaching in the teacher in myself i will do it i will become enlightened in this life that's the point of life so that is mana control of the mind now meditation how does it have to be done it takes a lot this process is a long process and it takes great patience and care and it should be done not mechanically but with joy utsah is a word used as enthusiasm verse number 41. [Music] [Music] control the mind how example is given as it's like trying to empty the ocean with don't get scared with a blade of grass you know taking a one drop by one drop and so immediately your reaction he knows so he adds upper ek without feeling frustrated now what does this mean let's understand this the mind what is the mind i'm going to deal with the mind now so what is the mind very simply for put it is british movements in the mind thoughts thoughts feelings emotions ideas all of them are called with the modification of the mind stuff the mind there are thoughts arising every moment in our mind so it goes like this each of them is a vritti and this is the mind the sum total of all of this is the mind each virti has a content each movement of the mind content means it's about something in western philosophy it is said mind is intentional it intentional means it it is about something so when you're thinking the mind is not thinking about itself you're thinking pen so the thought in your mind about pen is about this pen the thought in your mind is about what the swami said so thoughts are about something in in yoga or in vedanta is put in this way each vitti each thought in the mind has a content content means what is it about so is a thought about ice cream here is a thought about car parking you know and here is a thought about vedanta it's hot can i have a little bit of ice cream yeah and is my parking meter paid up oh back to vedanta what is the swami saying i missed a little bit so this is how the mind goes the mind flickers continuously and uh the control of the mind means basically what control of the mind is to regulate the contents of these virtis if the fourfold qualification is there then these virtis will always be about high and noble the contents will be about spiritual reality about vedanta about you know our god or who am i or but if if the mind is not sufficiently pure the fourfold qualification is not strong enough what will happen is the mind will be full of vittis about lot of worldly stuff it could would be about my house about that person what that person did to me and back to vedanta again and back to the world again this is how it goes our contact with the world and our own samskaras where do these thoughts emanate from the mind is always thinking when the mind is awake awake means virtue will be there now your question is if you make your question more precise why are these thoughts about these things if you're asking that where do thoughts emanate answers will be from the mind no no why these thoughts these thoughts are from your contact with the world what you see here smell taste touch obviously and your mental predispositions your samskaras so if the mind is full of spiritual samskaras it will keep coming back to spiritual topics no matter what comes from the world you'll relate it back to that if the mind is very worldly you may hear a spiritual talk once in a while but that'll leave they say it's like water falling on a hot pan flash it's gone man is so hot with worldliness it will only take world impressions and finds great joy even in worldly suffering you try to take away suffering and give peace to such a mind mind finds it boring when is the next problem coming so these vitis come from our own conditioning in contact with the world our own conditioning is most important because even the enlightened person the spiritual person is also to some extent in contact with the world whoever is living is in contact with the world all right now these virtues are there for everybody for all spiritual seekers enlightened person for those who are the second middle ground for those who are at the beginning all of us we have with these the problem with these is they are internal first person we are aware of it and so there is always in spiritual life in the case of mano control of the mind is this problem of hypocrisy of deluding oneself i can think of myself as a spiritual person i can pose as a spiritual person but if i entertain virties which are about the world then inside where it counts i'm not really spiritual my thoughts are about the world so this is hypocrisy in spiritual life in gita sri krishna says person who gives up worldly pursuits sits quietly in a mountain cave and yet the mind keeps on thinking about the world that is that is he calls it hypocrisy so what we should do to some extent or the other this problem is there for all of us otherwise we would be enlightened straight away a mind is absolutely pure what it takes up as real it will pursue it it will not get distracted here and there we get distracted because things keep pulling us it doesn't matter if these victims come to our mind if i am a spiritual seeker here is the thing what is mano control of mind how do i react to those with these if i keep strengthening them if i let my mind dwell on worldly things then that makes me more and more worldly and less and less spiritual if i react i note oh this is not um this is not according to my spiritual goal i let go of that and substitute it with a spiritual thought so whenever a thought comes i deal with it i don't let my mind dwell on it i try to dwell on on my spiritual goal so more and more i put my mind on vedanta on on uh or whatever your spiritual practices that is real mano at the at its core at its heart what i do externally whether i sit like this whether i stand in one on one leg whether i put on a geruar dress or not there's so many marks which monks in india or priests they put on those are external aids that is not all that important there are aids they help but the point is the viktis what are the vitis about are those about the six they call again the six four six and so on the six enemies kama sensual pleasures am i thinking about that are the virtis about that growth anger flash of anger i'm angry with different people or somebody and i keep thinking about that that is a world worldly writi krodha lover greed i want more and more of something it could be money it could be food it could be something am i thinking about that loba mother arrogance pride arrogance matsuri or jealousy jealousy um mow her delusion delusion i am the body mind i keep thinking and behaving as if i am this body mind so the six they're called the sixth grade shutter repo the shakes six great enemies and if i allow them to pervade my mind the mind is a worldly mind mother calmer sensuous thoughts replace these sensual thoughts with maybe thoughts of my ishta devata i want but not the world i want god anger growth growth is anger replace anger this is no righteous anger even if it's righteous anger it's still anger whatever the issue in your life you can deal with it without being angry you can it's a so i'm vivekanthu said it's a fool who cannot get angry it's a wise person who does not get angry so anger has to be managed has to be transcended krodha overcome anger by peace beautiful statement in the dhammapada akkodena impali krodha the sanskrit kroger becomes koda koda means anger by non-anger by serenity overcome anger very simple but it's a very beautiful statement then um love by the thoughts of self-control overcome the thoughts of acquisition greed i've acquired so much the buddhists have a very nice meditation to deal with greed they say imagine imagine how much we have eaten imagine the last meal you had there you know it's in india the rice and the dal and and the vegetables in your plate and imagine the meal you had last night add it to that so more rice and more dal and the meal that you had in the afternoon yesterday and all the food that you've eaten throughout the week rice and dal whole buckets of them imagine the food that you have eaten last year now it can't be kept within the house you have to take it out to the lawn and imagine the food that i have eaten in 20 years of life 40 years of life from my babyhood mountains of rice lakes of dal and and heaps and heaps truckloads of vegetables and and bushels of sugar and so on you think this is some kind of demon you know we say rakshasa demon is eaten no i am the demon who has eaten all of that and it's a fact nobody can deny it all of that has been poured into this body-mind system for what what have you got to show for that let alone what the world has got from you what have you got from it are you at peace have you have you found joy are you happy no think about it and it's a fact it's not imagination it's exactly the fact of our life we just don't think about it so this is a meditation on overcoming greed overcoming anger overcoming sensuous desires for sensuous pleasures overcoming pride overcoming arrogance and the delusion of being a body mind and seeking um satisfaction in this physical material world after all that food how much satisfaction remains now within a few hours i'll be hungry again feed me feed me no this is this is not the way to happiness so uh so he says this has to be carefully done replace all these writtees these negativities with positive ones starve the negative with these encourage and nourish the positive ones for that a lot can be done change your environment sri ramakrishna would see if he went to somebody's house and he saw the pictures of the hindu gods and goddesses you know he would be happy because this creates a satwik it's a small input into the mind but still an input play spiritual music sublime music when you're at home so worldly samskaras with positive subscars you will see whatever happens about enlightenment later on right now you'll be happy straight away within one day you'll be happy the mind will be more relaxed more peaceful um more healthy so this is mano and this is the way it has to be done little by little over a long period of time don't get upset the mind is very delicate um it's it's a very fine instrument they say meditation is like if you hold a bowl of water full to the brim and you have to you are not allowed to spill a single drop how careful you must hold it that's how you must sit physically so that the mind will not be disturbed even the slightest movement of the body the slightest irregularity of the breath all of that disturbs the mind mind immediately throws it out into waves so that much care alertness has to be maintained there is a story about this why he has given this kushagra means one blade of grass the tip of a blade of grass at the most you can pick up one drop of water from the ocean so the old myth is there indian story is there from the puranas that there's little little bird which laid a couple of eggs and it got into some kind of trouble with the ocean the ocean was a big bully so the ocean came and swept over the eggs and the eggs were swept out into the ocean or to the sea and the poor bird was so miserable it couldn't find its eggs he knew it was under the ocean what could it do it begged and begged in the ocean wouldn't listen the bully give back my eggs no then the bird said out of desperation what can i do then i'm going to empty you and the ocean laughed hi you were going to empty me and the bird flew away got a blade of grass and picked up a drop of water from the ocean and threw it on the beach went back again picked up another drop of water and threw it on the beach and went on and on until it was exhausted it would recover its strength and start all over again the ocean was not concerned what can the bird do to me it'll die long before it makes any dent in me i'm so big and powerful but but when you help yourself god helps you so high above in why kunta the abode of the lord where vishnu narayana the lord of the universe his mount is his private jet you know gulf stream is is the is the great bird garuda i think indonesia's airline is called garuda airlines it's the great bird garuda is a mighty uh like the mighty eagle so this divine bird itself after all the birds it's its cousin after all you know so it saw this poor bird inside everything with its divine eye it saw what was going on and he was indignant and couldn't take this torture anymore so he swooped down in all his glory and power till the whole world of the skies were thrown into you know atmospheric disturbance hurricanes by the flapping of his winds and he swooped down to the ocean the ocean looked up in terror and this bird came mighty bird and it flapped its wings a couple of times and the ocean water began to get evaporated and the ocean in in terror asked oh mighty one why are you doing this to me and garuda said return the eggs of of my little brother up a little sister um the ocean said yes of course sir whatever you want and gave the eggs back now what it means is it's not as impossible as it looks set to work with a with a clear unflinching intent divine grace comes the problem which you're dealing with which seems like an ocean it will be immediately transformed meera sings the great poet uh meera she sings about merito for me there is only krishna in the form of gopala nobody else i know only krishna that's the non-duality of devotion nothing else except krishna then the baby krishna gopala and there is a line there the ocean of the world has this has been has dried up i have no fear of the waves i have no fear of crossing over now how is the ocean of the world right ocean of the world means samsara for me it's gone how is it gone because of the grace of god you start with meera starts with the little blade of grass but she is helped by god and so it's no longer a problem it's easily overcome every day we sing arati the song to sri ramakrishna bhava goshpathi at the end of the song it is said by your grace even the bhava sagar the ocean of worldly existence it becomes as small as the puddle of water which collects in the hoof print of a cow hoof print when the cow walks and makes a hoof print as much water as can collect there it's as easy as crossing that by the grace of god without the grace of god blade of grass and one drop at a time so that's the beautiful example but i was reminded of a story um not as grand as the story of garuda but it was a joke which had written in an old reader's digest dating back to the second world war the ashram where we were where i joined they had old magazines and stuff in the library so 1940s so a joke about churchill and mussolini and hitler so the joke is it goes like this so churchill and miscellaneous hitler for us it's all stories not for bill he is a world war ii veteran he flew bombers in the pacific theater so he actually experienced all that so churchill and hitler and mussolini they have a meeting when the war has just started just before the war starts or something like that it's not true it's a joke it never happened so they're meeting in a seaside resort and churchill tells mussolini and hitler to back down from their unreasonable demands and they say no and will say and says you should surrender you can never stand up to us and churchill says we'll never surrender and so on finally churchill proposes this it's a joke bill is looking confused it never happened i'm telling a joke one second you're thinking about did i wake up to an alternate reality or something no this is just a joke so churchill proposes a challenge he says there are little fish in that pool it's a very clear pool little fish in that pool the first one to catch it that person is the winner and his what he says should be done hitler says ah that's very easy and it whips out his revolver and shoots at the pool but you know you can't really shoot underwater it gets diffracted so he misses with every shot he misses the little fish and fish just slips away mussolini says enough i'll do it and he takes off his coat and his boots and he jumps into the pool and he swims but he is heavy and slow and the fish is small and slippery and slips out of his grasp every time he's trying to catch it and huffing and puffing comes out of the pool he has finished when he can't do anything so both of them say what about you and they don't think that churchill can't do anything because he's so old and fat and out of shape what can he do he doesn't have a gun he can't swim so churchill what he does is he gets up from where he was sitting he takes the teaspoon from his teacup and he goes and takes out a spoon of water and throws it then he takes out a spoon of water and throws it and takes out another one hitler and muslin are looking at each other what is he doing hitler shouts at him you fool it will take you a thousand years to empty the pool in this way and churchill says yes it may take us a thousand years but we'll never give up until you are defeated and wiped out from the face of this earth so this this is the but you see how it matches with this this kind of determination okay uh old reader's digest joke wartime joke now so is patience all that is necessary i keep watching my british and keep replacing them with positive ones no there are techniques it's coming now so he says you use with this kind of intent diamond hard intent that i will control the mind bring it under control take a resort to yogic techniques remember before we go into this vedantic meditation can be done with eyes closed it can be done with eyes open also studying is also vedantic meditation shavana stay with your the teaching hear it again and again that's also vedantic meditation discussing it with each other that's also vedantic meditation just thinking about the vedantic truth that's also vedantic meditation while working that words we have in the gita brahmapanam which says you convert your every action into vedantic meditation brahma karma samadhi look at the word used there brahma karma samadhi the one who sees brahman in every action so while doing action also vedantic meditation is possible but one of the most powerful ways of doing vedantic meditation is using patanjali's yoga so what vedanta does careful they do not subscribe to patanjali's yoga philosophy because patanjali's yoga philosophy is dualistic prakriti purusha what vedanta does is it dismisses patanjali's philosophy but takes the techniques it takes the techniques and adapts it to vedantic meditation so what what is the method of meditation in patanjali yoga eight steps or eight limbs ashtanga yoga yama niyama tell me yama and nyama the moral practices then asana sitting posture here posture is important here you cannot walk around drive or do things no posture is important so asana then pranayama control of the breath regulation of the breath why because the breath is closely connected with the mind heavy breathing fast breathing excited mind calm and and rhythmic breathing calm mind so pranayama and pranayama itself is a science asana itself is a science it is you know all the yoga studios and all they are all about pranayama and asana these two only so asana and pranayama then withdrawal of the mind from its connection with the senses turning the mind inwards basically then dharana focus focus on whatever you are meditating upon focus in this case what what what is the focus the vedantic understanding i am brahmana ahmra as me then then what happens that focus deepens into dhyana meditation first the focus is intermittent vedanta parking ticket vedanta then it is it becomes for focused and then dihana meditation results and that dhana hopefully will deepen into samadhi samadhi and samadhi again is of different types so this is the vedantic meditation based on patanjali yoga that's what he's going to talk about upaya he just mentions upaya method be methodical about it he's not going to give us a detailed description of meditation no this is not meant for that this is mandook here this is the tip of the this is the peak of the everest you want detailed descriptions of meditation and processes and what to do and what not to do patanjali yoga is there and there are many texts which tell you what to do this is he just touches upon it and then goes ahead verse number 42 upon he has given you the entirety permission to follow the entirety of patanjali yoga import everything copy and paste no question of uh what is called copyright in those days so every it was knowledge was free copy and paste use it but fit it to your non-dualistic philosophy upi in any grenade bring your mind under control methodically not just by patients one drop by one drop that's of course necessary that's most important but upaya follow a method follow the method taught by your guru your guru has given you a mantra and a way to meditate that's good enough that's good enough now do that when you do that so will it work will my mind kind of come under control will i be enlightened aham brahma asked me wait a minute there are problems you say ah i knew it what kind of problems are you likely to face there are four kinds which girdup are the mentions and gives you the remedy for them so what are the obstacles to what to vedantic meditation we have four main obstacles one is layer yeah precisely that yawning that's the first obstacle then second one is wick shaper big shape is basically layer basically what what was going on that's liar big shaper is when will this end impatient mind scattered mind then kashaya i'll explain kashaya then number four is rasaswada tasting of bliss kashaya is stupefication or stunned mind and um or immobilized mind basically and rasa swadha is tasting bliss what are these obstacles and how do you overcome them first one is liar tired mind drowsy my sleepy mind why is that a problem in meditation it is for multiple reasons one could be which is more more replicable to us here in this city city that never sleeps yogis would be horrified a certain amount of sleep is necessary for the body mind system and so they say regulated life a routine life is absolutely essential for meditation is for a yogi's life balance diet balance routine harmonious satwik life otherwise meditation becomes a struggle so one of the components of this balanced diet is balanced life is the sleep not too much not too little most for most people at least six hours or more so again but that does not mean 10 hours but that does not mean the manhattan equivalent of two hours a night no so you if the mind body is sleep deprived you can pass your days filled with starbucks but something like meditation which is very um very very subtle satwik when you calm down settle the body down and calm your mind immediately the sleep deficit will take over and you'll fall asleep the mind says ah good time to make up for my sleep the guy is not doing anything much time to sleep meditation or vedanta class somewhere wednesday 4 pm good time to sleep so sleep deficit that's one problem another is illness it could be whether it's the flu or your stomach problem something some kind of imbalance in the body where the body is not doing too well it affects the mind immediately and you try to meditate you'll feel drowsy sleepy sluggish old age combination of all of this that can actually affect also so we have seen meditators who have meditated for decades and decades very well they can continue to do so in old days but if your meditation is not already well established once old age begins to take over lot of problems in the body will become drowsy weakness is there drowsiness is there it's just the body it's nothing to be terribly worried about um bad habits bad habits in the sense when we sit down for meditation it's almost like going to sleep so the body feels so this guy is not moving okay he's closing his eye ah what does this mean dark room quiet no sound closing guys sleep body goes to sleep that's how we have trained the body i remember one of our swamis when we were novices it was tough you had to get up at 3 40 a.m in the morning and it was hot and sweaty and you would have missed sleep at night and we were young and strong at that time but still it would be really tough and we would go to the temple you had to because otherwise somebody would come politely and ring the bell near your ear until you went up to the temple to meditate but in the temple now you're all alone by yourself nobody's going to disturb you so off you go like this they used to joke i don't know it just doesn't translate too well into english there's a verse which says pranamami i salute this the moment to moment every moment i salute this so it's accessible i salute every moment i one senior swami i'm one of our teachers i still remember he is too he is to plaintively say don't go to sleep immediately struggle with it other actually otherwise it becomes a bad habit so the body learns that oh this is the time for sleep no it's not the time for sleep the opposite wick shaper wig shaper is scattered mind mind has not gone to sleep but it is scattered i want to see this i want to hear that this is so boring i'm wasting my time i should go and read some vedanta this trick of the mind it's not going to read vedanta also the moment you let it get up from the meditation seat and you say all right read vedanta then you feel sleepy you're not doing much good i remember my brothers were there you know cleaning the temples on the side of the river ganga i was sitting in meditation i said i should have spent my time working even that manual labor is better than this useless struggle you know my mind just going going every which way just a trick of the mind weak shape a scattered mind who doesn't want you to sit quietly in meditation bring it back there is to be a big clock in the meditation room and often you will find the novices you know sitting for meditation once a while looking at the clown how much longer scattered mind the other one is layer which is which is layer means merged mind well that sounds nice we merged in sleep so that guy is not looking at the clock he's out of it but this guy's looking at the clock because young energetic man how how many hours can you say make him sit quietly but that's big shaper that scattered mind bring it back focus again um so the solution for scattered mind is concentration there are many uh minor techniques for example i'll just give you one example because this is not a manual of meditation so details are not touched upon it's just talking about something far higher just touches upon it and goes ahead for example mind is dull and feeling sleepy one of the subtle ways of of um dealing with it subtle ways internal ways when i'm imagining say the form of my ishta devata krishna i'm visualizing the deity if the mind is becoming dull make the deity light bright you know blazing forth shining that has a subtle image into the subconscious and the mind awakens if the mind is scattered here and that going here and there make the image heavy like a stone in solid and deep the mind again begins to settle down these are subtle messages these may be too subtle our problems may be much more gross than that so in that case sleepiness get up wash your face come back and sit down or walk back and forth repeat the mantra to yourself so i i remember an extreme case one monk a novice i i saw this actually uh he was one of the most energetic young monks i have ever seen and meditation for one hour two hours early in the morning was must have been a torture to that guy who was so up and doing so he couldn't take it anymore he was sitting there for meditation and he saw this younger more junior novice you can't say anything to the seniors you can say something to the juniors the junior novice is like anybody else like this and so this monk says this this novice he does in the darkness imagine a huge hall dark filled with monks sitting and meditating so this monk goes waking him up right and so this young novices okay a senior novice is telling him tries to sit and again becomes like that right and it goes on for one hour after three days of this the new novice can't take it anymore so he changes his seat goes elsewhere next day this and it actually happened this um this novice who has been nice occupation see his problem that person's problem is number one and the second one is problem is number two he has found an occupation now to make that other guy meditate so he sits and meditates and he finds this spot is empty he's not there he starts looking around where is he going and this guy poor guy who shifted to a different place in the meditation hall suddenly finds a wrestling and the other monk is coming and sitting behind him now to take care of his meditation a couple of days of that and then the this young novice couldn't be found in the hall and this monk actually got up put his meditation a mat under his arm started walking outside the temple to see and lo and behold that young novice was hiding in a corner behind a pillar and trying to meditate there and he comes and sits down behind him no talking no and it went to such an extent that that young novice stopped coming to the temple he went to the bank of the river to meditate where he found this other monk following and it's not exaggerated there are many many uh witnesses to this thing so that is big shape when you take up the job of making the other guy meditate properly kashaya is an immobilized mind what happens is you see long before freud they understood this deep disturbances and imbalances in the body and mind especially subconscious mind a trauma a complex some kind of guilt infinity complex a hurt something remains suppressed for many many years maybe but meditation uncovers these layers and so that monster sleeping underneath which i have ignored you cannot really ignore it so i discovered that it manifests in different ways but in meditation especially these things get released so it can be quite dangerous so sometimes it comes and catches your mind and you are as if stunned by the enormity of whatever trauma that you have undergone in the past it could be something has been done to you or you could have done something it could be guilt it could be shame it could be unhappiness it could be suffering it will come and catch the mind and the mind is simply it's like being poisoned so it becomes paralyzed as it were it's not doing anything it has not fallen asleep it's not at all scattered it is completely concentrated but only on that horror only on that unhappiness and it stays like that what do you do there one way is witness watch the the that that complex that whirlpool of um thoughts and your mind unable to meditate being there just watch it it's also an experience you have studied mandukya you are the consciousness in which this is also appearing it comes and goes it is nothing to you stay like that for some time that thing begins to lose its power over you that's the witness consciousness way mandook but there is a more powerful way which god of other will not mention it is a surrender to god pray intensely to the lord whichever form you believe in by the grace of god sometimes those knots become untied especially the grace of the divine mother yes what there'll be a problem getting rid of the god later on don't get rid of ghana no no not get rid of god that see if you have if you come to the earlier classes you will see what is ishwara it is that consciousness with the power of maya it is none other than turia with the power of maya you you and god have the same reality you are jiva that is ishwara really speaking you are neither jeevan nor is that ishwara that is also turia you are also turian you are supposed to realize that don't have to get rid of it take the help of god case yes provided somebody that said trauma or something like that you can get rid of that if you see the all the writers they also feel other suffering their own way otherwise you cannot paint the picture correctly to sufferings you have to put inside that heart suffering is my suffering then you can release that in compositing something what ability you have that is true that is also true some people some people it's called bibliotherapy by reading or writing um all the writing often often literature is a good therapy so there are many many ways freudian psychoanalysts are supposed to be a therapy so so when you express that bring it out and talk about it that's also that also may release it but here the why the devotional aspect has not been stressed is because it's not really part of this paradigm so they don't talk about it but as sadhaka we should take help wherever it is available that is kashaya and then the last one is rasa swadha this is rare but what happens is for people whose minds are pure and have are established in their meditation practice a time of gladness peace serenity and joy descends upon the mind it's restful it's relaxed you're awake not sleeping not scattered the mind is satwik alert awake and very glad you can stay for a long time in that state but it's not spiritual how do you know it's not spiritual because it comes and goes it will also go away it has come because the mind is satwik you have no particular problems and you are a good meditator so the mind mind is relaxed and happy rasa swa tasting rasa bliss you are not supposed to do that remember what is the purpose of vedantic meditation what is the purpose of your upasana concentrating on ishta devata not enjoying bliss and not enjoying this peace of mind concentrating on the ishta devatha if you are practicing vedantic meditation staying with the knowledge i am brahman even this with this piece of the mind i am a witness to that so that should be the practice not just relaxing into the happiness a gladness that happens i've seen it happen i mentioned here we saw this monk uh who i can still remember i mean it was quite admirable really how he would come and sit early in the morning absolutely straight like a buddha and one hour one hour one and a half two hours daily and he was so peaceful you could see it in his talk and his walk and everything and we really thought he's a great meditator until a much more senior swami who is whom most of us considered to be spiritually awakened he told us he said oh his whole problem is that he has found peace already what does that mean what's wrong with finding peace if you find peace in something which will ultimately not last it's still a piece of the particular condition of the mind you are a monk and a good one at that you have no problems in life body is healthy mind is satwik it's pure so it is peaceful it's naturally peaceful but none of that is going to last old age is coming to overtake you mind undergoes many changes until you're enlightened until you realize that you are not this body and mind there is no safety so his whole problem is that he has already found peace i still remember it's better than most of the other things but still it's not spiritual so what do you do you arouse your mind out of that peaceful static state and again come bring it back to i am the brahm i am the witness consciousness i am thuria i am brahman stay with it not as a mantra actually the knowledge your awareness of that stay with it but will the peace not eventually lead to enlightenment no no no peace will not lead you enlightenment comes only from knowledge i am brahman i am the witness of the three states which come and go that that is real peace if you remember the seventh mantra of the mandukya shantam the name of the atman itself is shantam but the mind shanti it can come and go it comes and goes it's a good state but not stable true but that this is this is not the prasad the prasada comes from the the presence of god in the mind prasada it comes from the presence of god when you're dwelling on the ishta devatha in your mind meditating that leads to a spiritual joy that that kind of mind can take the knowledge but this mind is already satisfied at peace with itself it doesn't want to be disturbed it doesn't want to be shaken it's nice why disturb it but no that's not the point it can become a habit an addictive habit so one gets addicted to this kind of meditation but that's not the ultimate purpose of meditation and this person can huh another thing this person can get terribly annoyed i have actually seen it happen one phone call enough to set off irritation so gets irritated by the pressure what you would consider is nothing a little problem in the world somebody behaving little by little little noise in this no because the mind is so peaceful he expects a shanti within and outside and if you take it away from him he's addicted to that irritation comes yes this vidantic meditation wouldn't be the same as repeating your mantra and focusing on your data no here it is staying with the vedantic knowledge i am brahmana what has come out of all your study and reasoning staying with that that breakthrough stay with that what you are talking about i'm talking strictly in godupath's paradigm what you are talking about for him it will come in that first stage upasana ishta devata mantra repetition where we are doing all of that to gain fitness work purify the mind and fitness of the mind fourfold qualification will generate in the mind but that's got a father's point of view but that's not our point of view if you see swami saradananda in the sudama krishna the great master the divine player srinamar krishna where he describes what happens in sadhana this is a chapter at the very beginning so mantra is concentration on that repeating that at first it's an attempt of imagination then it becomes deep concentrated and then you have the living realization of the deity and that takes you to the formless he says very clearly first savikalpa samadhi the nirvikalpa samadhi and then that takes you to the form list the non-dual he says very clearly it'll take you to that non-dual realization also and this is very much in tune with geeta the bhagavad-gita it says concentrate on me krishna says on me by my grace you shall attain to knowledge knowledge means enlightenment so that's the scenic route through bhagavan through god this is what god of other promises is straight a rocket trip to the moon so but with its attendant dangers and difficulties you you are staying with not repeating you're staying with the knot suppose i want to stay with the awareness i am server priyananda it's like that i have realized i am the witness of the three the mind of the mind and body i am the witness of the three states waking dreaming deep sleep they arise they stay and they disappear in media awareness it's a fact not a reputation it's actually a fact i stay with that fact why you need to stay with the fact is even though it's a fact to me when i work and talk and walk in daily life i behave as if i'm a mind body so there is a dissonance between what i now understand and i believe and convinced to be the fact and the way i'm behaving in the world the way i'm behaving in the world is due to my past conditioning that has to be changed so that is the work of vedantic meditation yeah unless i have that breakthrough that unshakeable clarity and conviction the very material for this meditation is not there what will you think about if you're going to repeat om then repeat your mantra even better yes i'll come to you the question about the vedantic meditation that you just described does it require for you to sit in a place quietly and do as i said as i said earlier vedantic meditation can be done in any way but this one he's talking about sitting in a place and doing yogic meditation yogic meditation you cannot do it while walking around vedantic meditation there are forms what is vedantic what is practice of that knowledge panchoda she says this is considered to be practice of brahman literally by the wise what is it i'm talking about that clearly you're not sitting quietly you're talking about it you're studying it you're teaching it that's vedantic need meditation chintanam thinking about it continuously keeping your mind there this is very different from it actually takes more commitment than i repeat the mantra a thousand times in the morning thousand times in the evening in between world no no no all the time it is a fact like my eyes whatever i'm seeing if i'm aware of i'm what that i'm seeing and my awareness is not on the object but i use the object to become aware of the seeing and the eyes like that become aware of awareness when can you become aware of awareness let me ask you when can you become by seeing what will you know that you've got eyes by seeing what will you know that this is a pen by seeing the pen by seeing what will you know that this is a hand by seeing the hand by seeing what will you know that you have got eyes pen eyes no anything the very fact that you are seeing is direct proof that it i have eyes the very fact that you are experiencing for a person who has understood what vedanta is the very fact that you are experiencing is direct proof that you are awareness you are chaitanya you are turia if you understand what eyes are by seeing anything you'll become aware that you are the eyes you have the eyes if you understand what vedanta is what all this we have done that clarity is there any experience will reveal to you if you're alert that you are that pure consciousness if you reach to that point like taku then you will not enjoy anything like uh besides talking uh spiritual things means truly things will bother you yes suramar krishna would be immersed in in talk of god in spirituality right right right if you have gotten taste of something higher that which is lower will you find it uh irritating you may indulge in it for the sake of others who are around you but quickly you will take them to will try to channel them to something that is higher all right so did somebody else have their hands yes i just want to uh just a little clarification so i had taken it to to to mean that if you are following the witness self and uh introspection and this thing and through uh yoga a sort of peacefulness will naturally come a sort of stability will come so that is a stage and then one should go further now that peacefulness that peacefulness that stability is not wrong that's not rasa swatha here what has happened is that person has let go of that witness consciousness it's just enjoying a peaceful mind that person is let go of that i am the wit if you say here is a peaceful mind shining in me the consciousness that's still you're doing the vedantic meditation if you just say how nice peaceful good then you are let go of the meditation and it can become an addiction you have to see such people to understand and it seems quite very spiritual seems very nice they may themselves not know yeah yeah they became like that oh i don't care that also could be an alienated that means like a witness of everything but that's not the true witness it's just a state of the mind the true witness you don't have it's there's no choice there it's a choiceless thing you just become aware of the fact that you are always the witness you are trying to be the witness and sometimes you succeed that is the mind itself that will it will lose it again if suffering becomes intense enough if the temptation becomes intense enough no longer witness witness gone yeah so these are obstacles if you ask what is the particular technique of atlantic meditation there are many if you remember rig rishi vivek we have done six techniques six techniques of vedanta vedantic meditation three internal three external i will not go into that pancho dashi has a number of techniques upper rock shanuhuti talks about 15 steps where he uses yogic terms and converts them into advaithic meditation so in many ways this manduka itself has a technique uh uma om using that waking dreaming deep sleep and the silence beyond om represents the consciousness in which waking dreaming deep sleep are coming and going so these are this is vedantic meditation now if you look at the verse upay in any green hyatt control the mind with technique what technique you know yama niyama all those things you take it from yoga and practice it this is with which is sitting with eyes closed what are what are the problems with them this problem number two scattered where is it scattered kama bhagaya by thoughts of desirous objects mind gets scattered or by engagement in in enjoyment of desired objects mind gets scattered withdraw from there suprasannam when the mind is here in layer relaxed i have fallen asleep awaken it or assassiwatha su prasannam actually the commentator has included it as the restfulness of sleep but it could also mean suprasinda means gladness so it could also mean the rasa swada that means tasting of the peace of a calm mind and he has not mentioned the kashaya here but these are the four major obstacles we'll leave it at this he will tell us the solutions as we go along and then he'll conclude the chapter yeah but remember the whole big picture who is this meant for otherwise what will happen is we'll keep after some time you keep getting the question just a minute what are we supposed to meditate on here if you think that then it's much better ishta devata mantra upasana that's stage one you all if you already if you if this is for you you already know what you're supposed to meditate on you have already got an intuition of that a breakthrough with that you need to immerse yourself in that you need to that what is their marinate so the cooking has already been done you know what they are talking about but you need to stay with it so this is for that stage yeah very good yes there's six enemies yes yes nyc right so when you say stay with it do i invite see that's basically all of new york city true but we are all here also so the good guys are here don't worry yes that's true that's true [Music] so