Video 1

Panchadasi - Lecture 1

Oh Oh leaders from the unveil to the real leaders from darkness unto light leaders from death to immortality for these good evening and welcome to this first of a series of talks and if Angela she she's it says the men come talks I've already mentioned all right now we can get down to business our whole life each one of us all of us in fact everybody in the whole world all throughout history is the quest for peace for satisfaction for joy or happiness and concurrently for overcoming suffering that's all that we have been doing basically you know I've been busy studying and my career and maybe raising a family but all of that we did for waters in a quest for happiness in a quest for satisfaction we are all the time trying to overcome unhappiness and reach for the ultimate happiness something lasting something some piece of profound peace our satisfaction which is plastic and in that pursuit we have been spending our lives what do we pursue in our quest for happiness some see kittens pleasures in various kinds of pleasure in eating drinking making marriage it could be anything from something gross like knitting a cookie to something a limited it's like listening to beautiful music that still measured in various kinds of pleasure especially sensory pleasure one seeks happiness when we can seek happiness in the means to pleasure for example wealth and power and learning understand Ava's he needs to pleasures and buy the things that you want pay for the things that you need but often these things like money or power they become eggs in themselves they become sources where we seek happiness richer that I am I will be happier more powerful and we happy more respected in society I want to respect a friend of my peers of others are they happy that's the idea so we seek happiness there and going further ahead we seek happiness enough a wider sphere doing things for others in being good at being modeled in it social causes in something beyond our little self so in these various things in sanskrit the terms for these are karma on top karma karma means pleasure in the five senses from the most unregenerate you to be most elevated sophisticated kind of pleasure Houston Smith when he's introducing Hinduism book religions of the world earlier it was called religions of man but now it is what politically correct and incorrect not called religions of the world he passed away a few months ago businessman so he says that even after you have appreciated bath and what Mozart and Beethoven even after the greatest cultural creations of humanity after that still your mind asked is this all now I'm going to die and that's it it was wonderful but that's all what was the meaning of this whole game of life so we we search for pleasure and happiness in these ways and at what point we recruit God in our efforts so we have conveniences like a car or a washing machine or or a phone and we do to the list of conveniences we had one more religion maybe it's fashionable to religious no long would not be stays but at one time it was maybe it's politically correct to be religious maybe it's the thing done in impolite Society to be religious to go to the temple and do a pooja go to go to church or something and so God has recruited in our efforts to be happy but here I want to make a distinction between conventional religion and the higher spirituality this distinction must be made to understand what we are about here what we're doing here conventional religion is been and still all about the word I'm trying to get happiness I'm trying to get please and trying to overcome suffering in the world I don't think this is what will make me happy wealthy and healthy prosperous and peaceful and a good family life and relationship this is what's going to make me happy and maybe we'll continue this after status of post-mortem kind of nice life God heaven where I will meet my near and dear ones and and under variability eyes of God I will continue this life you know better better way so this is what I am seeking seeking for and God becomes an aid to help me doing this so God is a help for a better life money helps me to get better life power going to be to get better life relationships helps me to get better life I think I am so God tells to the side of this kind of religion is supposing God does not you you come to come across people you know God does not fulfill the promise which which religion initially seemed to have and then what happens I prayed and prayed and prayed and nothing about that so I don't believe in God anymore you come across such people God is fire clean up it performs the next performance review God didn't perform he promised so many things it didn't work out why is he fired why I stopped believing believing in God because I did not believe in God for God's sake I believed in God harness the word see from the world I asked for the world and then I go to religion and to God I ask for the word again back up again back to the world so that's the conventional kind of religion and most of religion is like that most of most people are religious alike that maybe they began our religious quest that day most of the people that huge fuse you find in temples in India are the temples here the mass attendances in church are other religious organizations out of those people 80% 90% they are not there for enlightenment they are not there to become the next buta they are there because they want to meit's life and the little peace of mind even when you go to practice yoga people go to the yoga studio to practice yoga they are not there to get to Samadhi or enlightened enough talk in fact in they would rather not have those things but what they want is a flexible body which aim it stays young and yoga and gluten-free and things like that and so again the yoga is being practiced for the sake of the world not forcing of the entitlement right so this is conventional religion and most people who are religious whether in India or anywhere else in the world whether today or in centuries past are eight centuries to come most people practice religion will be doing it for busy but we are not we're not here for that there is another kind of religion which I call spirituality is I am making a distinction between spirituality and religion when not God for my life but my life workout when I begin to get a conviction that there is a spiritual reality or car God worth seeking there is something called enlightenment Elmander moksha salvation whatever the highest goal promised by each religion such a thing exists is worth having is worth adding above everything else and I want that I want what the Buddha set out to see what turn got the Musset are paid to the Buddha I want that what narrator not went out seeking to Ramakrishna it sir have you seen God in eternity different people I want that let us be careful they are not condemning the the conventional religion that's also very good Krishna himself with the Gita says there are four kinds of people who are religious generally the homogeny have four kinds of people worship whether they once in a while they'll be using Sanskrit but don't worry about it you know in bed under you if you keep hearing a little bit obsessed in all the time it's nice to hear the sound of this ancient language I'll translate everything so we don't have to worry about that four kinds of people who are worshiped me and they are all good one is those who are in distress in trouble suffering from pain or I've heard some disease or somebody beloved somebody close to me suffering and I see no other way but to pray to God in distress in fear in anxiety in terror is a saying that there are no atheists in the foxhole and in a war when you are faced with death there do it is they're saying there no it's in the foxholes they can hide get one that's one time in distress the other kind who worship God who come to religion is those who watch things in the world they're not in distress no problem but I more more than more success more achievements or is nothing it sparking something I want something appraised for something so about in 20s and that's that's the second kind of person and the third kind of person is not intra in distress it does not want anything overly but is an environment does God exist is it possible to find something beyond suffering the Buddha how much the doctor become the Buddha there is suffering is there a is there a way out of suffering is there a state achievable beyond suffering look at what we started with all our life our quest has been to overcome suffering and find happiness whatever you have done in life going to school was starting a family earning money writing a book even coming to the doctor class all of that has been a quest for satisfaction lasting peace and satisfaction overcoming suffering same quest but the Buddha did it in a much more philosophically deep way we seem to without question without question without examining it we seem to think that keeping on doing the same things with somehow what they give us satisfaction you see money relationships our success in the world all of these things all of us you must have tasted to some extent some at some level and it has not given a satisfaction till now but we think it might the next thing a little bit of more money or the next relationship or the next job might give me that satisfaction which are Bart there's a definition of they say that to keep on doing the same thing and to expect different results that's the definition of insanity the book I decided to do something different and out they decided to do something different no he saw it all power and luxury and luxuries and flame and everything he was a prince and he gave it all up to try something different that's not working how can you overcome suffering let's see so different and that's how we gave the good time so this third kind of person who comes religion is an inquiry look at miracle and Narendra not becomes very Canada how does he become they become he doesn't go around asking how can I get more money or not can I be more popular no he goes are not asking can I see God can you actually experience God sir can you sing God that's what wanting to premonition and that's what turn narrator nothing to Vivekananda so that's the third kind of person who comes to religion and enquirer a seeker I think most of us are there that's why we are here today and there's a fourth kind according to Krishna in the Gita he says is the fourth kind of person who worships me over children who is the fourth kinda guy at night in person and that person is Krishna see that person is the truly spiritual person because for that person spirituality is really others are either seeking or they want something now richness is all of them are good all of them are good but the first two will be caught in samsara because they watch some shop the second one the third one the Enquirer is the one who will go on to enlightenment and once enlightened that person does he give up religion and spirit and God nanano abides in that so there is this higher spirituality redonda is that higher spirituality the higher religion it is our life as a quest for enlightenment whether you are a monk or another or not that doesn't make a difference that that's not the point the point is what do you see yourself as what do we see our success what's our primary purpose in life now you may be working you may be retired you may be a monk you may be a householder whatever that's just your external circumstance that does not prevent anybody from there being spiritual Ramana Maharshi living in the cave there the archetype of enlightenment in the 20th century in a little the peaceful sage in the cave somebody asked him a lady the house order housewife asked him that don't you have to become a monk to become enlightened and he said no you can give us five and you can be in the kitchen cooking and you can still be about I'm enlightened person then she asked the question and why are you sitting in a cave and his answer was mother it's your karma to be a housewife it's my karma to be a hermit in a cave but both of us have equal right to be enlightened I'm not repeating this thing about Gandhiji he writes that Who am I some people think I'm a politician others think I'm afraid of mitre others think that I'm a social reformer and he was out of these if you look at his life with all things but if you ask me mother goddess's if you ask me Who am I an acceptance and in search of God that's what saw himself as remember it did not prevent him from fighting for freedom or from social reform or from doing the politics that he did didn't stop it in fact all of those way not distractions from spirituality there were challenged to which expressed his paternity so that is spirituality we should be able to see whoever in my heart of hearts I'm a person no matter what you do in life and a person who's seeking enlightenment so that's the primary condition for Vedanta when understands when they become spiritual seekers the Sanskrit words which Krishna used are one in distress at RT one who wants things of the world beyond just the Inquirer we must at least become an Enquirer and that Empire finally becomes an enlightened person Johnny these are the all kinds of people who come to religion now once you come to religion in spiritual life ended on the benefit of it under the promise is that you know Swami Vivekananda when he came to this country and he spoke about without the he introduced it in this way one of the one of the mantras from the Upanishads which he quoted often in this country he would call this a speech I am the Sanskrit first and they translated shriman to wish via with the sutra elisany children of amount of bliss I need a mahayana the school even the gods who dwell on higher realms you listen to because what I'm going to tell you even you do not know what is that resolution Muharram I have realized that infinite beam the some infinite beam and he has realized it what's it like since you realized it what's it like you know what we are talking about they're talking about God Brahma or Nirvana whatever you call it in different religions name is different but if you have discovered it what's it like are given a commercial for a star blazing forth like the Sun not the material light but the light of consciousness Thomas of Paris now beyond all darkness the darkness of ignorance the darkness of suffering darkness of human misery beyond all darkness all right suppose a thing exists then what good is it to realize it what what what does it do for you why should I realize what what will it do for me the mayor of Edith clock or tea break you may be realizing that one goes beyond death okay is there any other way right now in Silicon Valley I read an article many of the top billionaires are investing a lot of money in anti-aging they they hope that in this generation of next generation have discovered drugs and therapies which will enable them to live forever now isn't there any other way Martin medicine are I don't know some other way of breeding death overcoming summary it says Phnom Penh cafeteria life there is no real solution to this problem you make it a temporary solution you may have medicine which will help you out of a medical crisis you go from one crisis to another crisis one doctor told me this is Rami now - medical knowledge is advanced enough so that you can live much longer you can live longer but we cannot promise that you will live well longer and except for love so is there any other way medicine or some social system capitalism socialism something or you know creativity or something which will help us to overcome suffering which we give as permanent please Nonya Pantha with Tia Tia and I are a very very categorical statement from the res age who says there is no other no other path the only path is enlightened the spirituality truly again going back to where I began we are all searching for happens when all searching for peace overcoming separate if you look back about the history of humanity there has been a class of men and women who have actually fulfilled this who have actually you know attained this and these are the enlightened people belonging to all races in all times of history in all religions just look at that the great spiritual masters masters of different religious traditions they've been happy truly happy they were fulfilled they had beaten sorrow and suffering although in their life they were so much suffering and sorrow and yet they somehow transcended death so it is possible and they show it by their own lights that it is possible there is such a thing and that's what we are looking for so when we say that we are with higher spirituality a state we have same goal the person who is crazy about money person who's crazy about power and the person who is crazy about God has basically ultimately the same goal true peace and happiness but one is seeking it unwisely in the things which will not give which have been proven not to give throughout history any kind of lasting peace and happiness they are searching their mass of humanity and this person the spiritual seeker is searching in the right place the place where it is possible it is possible to attain peace and charm so that's what we are trying to do I wanted to make this tip difference clear I remember I went to this Hindu temple once I was asked to give a talk on Madonna so I went and I saw first we went to the temple hundreds of people do Sunday q parents and kids and grandpas and grandmas and the priests chanting mantras and worshiping of armor I thought ah I'm going to get a good crowd and then I bring them to the auditorium with the toppers to be held and then some people trickled a and many of them were distracted in the mobile phone so keep that shut down here a minute in during our classes and they were distracted and were very few so this clearly shows the difference between spirituality in conventional religion so the puja tracks people because this is far for my grandson this is for my son should get a job this is for decent family or whatever or at least very least I do this so that nothing bad happens it is a big thing to do on Sunday you go to the temple offer something in a little ritual order we attempt something a little puja in the temple that's it there's nothing beyond that even if you offer it look come here it when you talk about Samadhi and and the ecstatic love of God and the vision of God and and enlightenment come but that certainly don't want that I'm having a good time don't bother me I think it was st. Augustine it is in his confessions who say Oh God will be chastity but not just yet mm-hmm not yet not right now but he shows the human condition so this is the step that we have taken we are looking we are searching the same search with Narendra hand on which which Buddha hand or which the questions which prompted Arjuna to ask the questions which gave rise to the glitter of the teachings of Krishna the same questions the openness any questions then the student goes and asks little by Netta kata asks the yama the lord of death what is the secret life and death what's the secret what's what's the truth give it to me man so that's what a little boy asks in the winter condition when the student goes and asked the master what is that the one thing by knowing which everything in the universe is no cosmic no burger boba Chianti salami no victim permittivity the one thing by knowing which everything in the universe is though so that is the quest this is the highest quest that humanity has and you're blessed to have that at least a little bit of it you say that no there's a big difference between me and Vivekananda or me and Buddha yes maybe in manifestation but the question the same we are being driven by that and once you have started this quest let me tell you we are not going to give it up if we do not get enlightenment in this life they're going to be haunted by this there's a beautiful song by Rabindranath Tagore this is that my lord if I do not see thee in this life let me be haunted by a pain in life's to come live let a pain haunt me my dreams that is something that I did not do that if I walk if I get everything and decorate my house the beautiful light if I get everything all the nice things of the world and then I decorate my house with that let me be haunted by this feeling that I did not invite me to my house if I out of callousness out of laziness sloth if I sit down by the roadside before I complete the journey let me be haunted by the feeling that there are all these paths to walk before me and I've gone to sleep in the dust by the side of the road very beautiful hunting Sun so we will be if you do not get invited in this light make it fast if you do get it otherwise this is what's going to man test and the reason is this is how it is disturb a mere on the season universe the game of life has been designed in such a way so that we will get amazement that is the whole purpose of life according to Vedanta that's the whole purpose of life if we do not get it in this life we will get it in some like a hunted be too will be hunted by the speeding now I saw will think about enlightenment what is it and how do you get it it depends on how you see the question how you see the problem the solution all this depends on how you formulate the question if you look at the path of knowledge if you look at the path of knowledge you will see they see the problem is ignorance you are rather Bernardo Texas we are what we are looking for that ultimate reality doing which one becomes enlightenment and attains permanent peace growth we are all suffering that reality brahmand we are that which might stretcher maybe I am that I know it ah that is a problem you do not know anything there it is the problem so the solution of these will be knowledge because any ignorant in a mathematics course technology what mathematics s the solution to your problem and then what will be the method what exactly do I have to do there are there is the spiritual knowledge found in no conditions acquire it what is the method shraddha mother than it is the other it means as hearing literally are actually a systematic study of the way not acknowledge that you are wrong that is conveyed to you by the teacher and then thinking about it we have got questions when you hear this you get questions and you ask this question you think about it you solve it yourself as the teacher ask other students if you work at till you become convinced about it and then meditation meditation to assimilate it see at the end of the first stage hearing study you know what the text says you can study with the Texas at the end of that stage we say okay I know what the book says now one and believe me that's no small thing many people come out of the ways out the classroom how is it for great what did it now that will not do the end of the class you must be able to see this is what the text said I'm not asking you believe me I'm not ask you to say that you want to stir it I can see that I know what the text said but I don't understand it here are my problems with it one two three four when you do that before in the second stage stage of reflection reasoning so at the end of the first stage I know what the book says and then them but I can add these promises at the end of the second stage you know you've completed the second stage when you can see I know what the book says and now I'm convinced about it I am getting more and more convinced about it you have gone to the second stage here were County problems the questions but what's the problem now at the end of the second stage the problem still remains I know what the book says I am convinced about it but still not somehow real problem it's did something that I've learned and it's intellectual so with you what you have read and studied and understood and you're convinced about you deeply you meditate upon it then they can put it very powerfully tell yourself again and again I am that I am rather till it tingles with every drop of your blood not in a kind of brainwashing you must first study it then understand it be convinced about it then what you're convinced about driving deep into yourself you will suddenly see at the end of the third stage comes and intuitive awakening that's the best way to put it the Sanskrit term is from hockey on the knowledge of Brahman or realization of problem even more precise venediktov is from our collaborative a modification of the mind in the form of from so that will have an intuitive realization of the form I am from that's the method because knowledge is what you're looking for and ignorance you do not knowledge around but then to this is called the back of knowledge Gianni over yeah exactly but along comes the yogi the meditative Patanjali Yoga Sutras in radio and the only says no no no ignorance is not within a problem ignorance is there but it's not really the problem the problem is the restlessness of the fight in the mind can be calmed the mind can be calmed and the truth will then the truth will reveal itself you will see the truth in the depths of meditation you will see the truth so restlessness Restless mind is the problem then the solution will always be met the solution will be compass of the mind our focus of concentration of the mind and and the method will always be meditation you see the approach is different here the approach will be you turn up and at lutely can detain the cities of Thompson on butter the she and then you think about it and try to understand it and try to realize it within yourself what you have understood that will be the message he making about some meditation but primarily it will be a process of transfer of knowledge and trying to intuitively see what the text and see trying to get it here the method will be not so much attending classes and listening to talks here will be hours and hours of sitting and quieting the mind and trying to get Samadhi the deepest possible meditative absorption spoken about in the particular yoga sutras do you see the difference between the two approaches I met this monkey Bengal as I've often told the story a young monk who is sitting or who is to sit and meditate in a cave he was a young practising this path and you know I'm partial to be acknowledged Raja so this this young yogi was there after some time I asked him that what about Vedanta you'd like yoga meditation very good what about me now don't you like without and his answer was hardly about Barker and the moodini yogi I hear that without tears all right but they talk a lot they don't have experience spiritual experience so from from Yogi's perspective what are these benefits we get all these reading books and giving lectures and listening to talks and I really how will that help because once what's deep in his mind is that ultimately of course you to start that it's done meditate isn't it because after all in his mind the problem is that in this Restless more you read books and more units attend talks the more Restless humans become acknowledge that helping you so that's the approach in the path of Raja Yoga a part of poverty that person comes sensei is the fact of the lover of God comes and sees none of ignorant is not the problem even restless restlessness of mites are not real problem the real problem is that you do not believe in God you do not love God you do not surrender to God God exists you don't believe in God you don't have faith in God you don't want God you want the world and you don't surrender to God so lack of bhakti lack of love of God is the problem it's a split oh please no the solution will be love of God and put into whatever all of these problems can solve with love of God after all if you are a lover of God God has promised to give you this knowledge you want to knowledge I am Brahman God will give it to you in fact in Gita Krishna promises many times those who whose minds are set upon thee those who surrender unto me I shall be the highest return to them so you know how Krishna says the demand mother has you need to me what the Vedas have a ton to say so just by loving mother divine mother as a child he gets the Enlightenment which others have to attend so they not a part they can't come to that what about concentration meditation what's the best way to concentrate your mind that way is the best way to concentrate your mind mother loves our baby her mind is continuously on the baby and effortlessly so happily so when you love somebody or something that Java plays a thing your mind is there and it goes automatically there and it goes effortlessly there isn't that a better way rather than sitting in strange in a nursing and controlling her breathing and trying all the time to bring your mind inside what a struggle but in Toledo the path of love is so much easier so this person solution is love of God is the solution because lack of faith in God is the problem now you see the way you set up if you take care for your same thing our selfishness which ties us to this particular body mind complex that's the problem don't be concerned with the lick this little life be concerned with the with the suffering of the death of the universe and do everything for them you'll be enlightened so how will you situate the problem the solution will be according to that now what should we do I think when I look at myself am i suffering from ignorance ignorance of what we all have lots of ignorance about many different things but here only one ignorance is meant about whoever because where are the promises that I'm robbing and I don't seem to know that so I am clearly learned about that so do I have a ignorant yes is my mind recipe is restless I don't know about you but mine is yes and do I possess really deep surrender and love of God No so all these objected yes all of these problems are mine so all of the solutions also work for me serving women are recommended all of them by philosophy by the path of knowledge by meditation by love and worship and by unselfishness by ghana by iana by bhakti my country yoga the four yoga's by one or more and all of these you you be free practice these and be free that is the whole of religion books temples doctrines churches are secondary details whole thing is to get enlightenment by any one of these methods or more than one method or all the methods okay but for the purposes of this retreat we are going to take up one approach and this is just giving you the big picture knowledge knowledge so without the when I speak about without it you can use without in a wider perspective of covering all of this but we are going to speak about a plane event under the system of non-dual beta which is pre-eminently a path of knowledge and so that's what we are going to take up in the next few days so what is this a Quaker Vedanta available on the force that we are each of us we are already Brahman that which we seek enlightenment which we seek about the brotherman we are already that it's not something that has to be attained it's not a place that you have to go to it's not separated enlightenment is not separated from you by time it's not that after death I will be invited or after death I'll go together it's not separated from you my place that I am in Luling now and after dying or something I go to a place called heaven and dinner I'll be ill everything will be perfect no we are not separated from enlightenment by space we are not separated from enlightenment by time it's right here nowhere else where is Brahman there is a little bit right here when these Brahman when is enlightenment not after death not after so many light it's right now that which is right here and right now a problem comes therefore the Vedanta if if Raman if that reality which we are looking for if it is right now here here and now then I ask the question why don't they experience it you see if I tell you God is in heaven then you have an answer to the question he asked why can't I see God I said to you that the car doesn't have any can see God because God is not here God with God is in heaven so that's why you can't see car or if you're separated by time I'll tell you that now God you cannot see God now it's only when you die and go to heaven then you will see God not now but then not here but there and I'm saying you can't touch me and after that you do not find God you can't still can't catch me because I belong it seems that on Wall Street this is our neighborhood in Manhattan this economic crash which was caused as reading in Time magazine that those people who played the stock market and the big state and finally led to this disastrous thing and it just happened again anything so Hindus believe in cyclical creation and existence and destruction of the universe and one string believes is a very cyclical kind of creation existence and destruction cycle so it seems that we had a class of Themistocles players on the stock car together because of it is to call it yv g IV g y BG IV g don't read it are not worth writing down so what's kind of plaza what was the plaza it stands for use the gamma will become so let's do this now when the disaster strikes pioneers down the road i become better if i would have been made millions he would have maybe a billion to get out of it and let the others suffer if the whole economy in the world suffer but yeah we are so if you don't find God at that time you can't catch me but in Vedanta I am saying that the spiritual reality rather than is right now and right here then you are even legitimate question if it is right now and right here why Cannot I see if I cannot experience it you can ask that and so what is the problem the problem is why can we do not seem to experience it we do not seem to see it is because of ignorance it's here yet we seen it it's right now we are missing it right here and right now we are missing it and what went on that tries to do is point out the obvious one of the talks that Swami Vivekananda gave in this country was called the open secret it's a secret in fact one of the meanings of a phoenician is the secret knowledge rs7 here but it's also an open secret it's right here we just need the eyes to see it now it's not physical eyes is the eye of knowledge and that I acknowledge Vedanta so what we are trying to do in Vedanta is with this knowledge it is can contained in the boobalicious made on the knowledge contained the combinations the resulting final teachings of the Vedas been the most ancient scriptures of humanity the current scriptures of Hinduism dating back who knows when even conservatively now dated to four to five thousand years ago nominations are the final teachings of the Vedas in the Ummah nation you find this teaching that you are random about your initials Sherman har said that there is I consider the study of these opposition's to be the most beneficial of all study in the world it has been the sole ace of my life Arthur Schopenhauer the great German philosopher it has been the sanae's of my life and it will be the stories of my death here in fact recently I was reading this book waking dreaming be by even Thompson who is the professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia right here he's written this book waiting dreaming and being and he starts with a quote from another philosopher where he says in the book then the herb editions are so important in human history that we should actually date our history not with AD and BC but with before revolutions and after no conditions and he starts with that code nowadays way speaking so much about consciousness there is that book is about consciousness studies and he starts that book by saying consciousness studies did not start twenty-five years ago it started find out who years ago with definitions so what do these coalition's tell us can do it very briefly what the operations teachers can be told in one sentence and the sentence is this that thou art that promising this is the highest teaching accumulation the final editing the essential keeping with your position that any brahman the vinyasa you are this is thomas e brother piadmin is brown you are brown in fact these sentences are called maharaja the great statements and you find four of them one from each of the vedas this is from the chandogya venetian of the sama veda but there is one one more from relearn a combination of the you develop which says Ambrym has been I am problem I am bro there's another mountain the Rainmaker the i-20 home ownership it says from Cameron grandma this very consciousness is from this awareness which you feel right now that awareness this awareness is wrong and I'm from the other major the market competition you find by Muharram this very cell this cell as if you're pointing to yourself this very self is brother as you can see that thou art I am this is Brahmin it all means the same thing it all means the same thing that you are running which means that you are not what you think you are and there is something called rather than and you are that problem so this is the whole teaching of you but it should see what you want to if you want to take anything away from Bernard it is this I remember Central Park is very close to our Center in Manhattan so I go for walks there and there this is a place where Strawberry Fields and the Beatles and John Lennon and even now there are people who are singing imagine are the best Beatles hits My Sweet Lord and things like that and you will find a few hippies still there in their aging their the last a still there so once I was walking down that and one of them was sitting there with his beads and long hair and everything and he looks at me singing love hair and he looks at me and he says it because hey you look like the real thing you go by him and then he said if you could tell me one thing what would it be and I said where thou art you are that let me explain what that is he seemed to be satisfied he nodded right this is essential teaching so any penalty text URI not gonna stick without the text including the one which we are going to study from tomorrow onwards the teaching will be this you are wrong I am wrong that noir this awareness in front of this very self this problem so that's the teaching now this is given in the opposition's are all video many who punishes you have a list of at least 180 authentic compositions and there are many more but ten arguably eleven of these combinations are regarded as being cortexes of Vedanta because Shankar Acharya 1400 years ago chose these operations to write his commentaries and Upanishads sorry over Vedic Sanskrit and Shankara tell his commentaries are a more modern classical Sanskrit so he wrote commentaries on 10 maybe 11 operations and that becomes the fundament to the root texts of Advaita Vedanta so the open issues with Shankaracharya scabbing tree now another important text in Vedanta is the Pergamon gita and that is most well known of all the into texts and yet the bhagavad-gita is nothing the durational it's basically the truths of the operations spoken by Krishna and response to the questions of Archana the verse goes that operations are follows and Krishna is a milkman and the milk of the cows is the Gita and our tune is the car which trains the quill so that's the that's the analogous given so meaning therefore the Gita is nothing but is Venetians help a new student they will teach you whatever the religions are teaching but in an easier way no more a modern day which appeals to us baby so those texts were written for centuries for more than a thousand years after Shanker of many masters payment on those tests those according to natural index of reference there are other texts to some of those other texts where dialectical that means arguments directed against other systems of thought dualistic systems against other systems which attacked non-dualism so they were dialectical texts then workers were supposed to teach without the but to defend without the and they are very suddenly very intricate but the texts that we are going to study belongs to the first category and introductory text but a little more advanced not absolutely primary this book was written about 700 years ago by India and Nia's father so you can see I'm starting with the spiritual quest and I've worked my way down to the book which you are holding in your hands so this book or bunch of the she was written by the medium a Swami who lived in the south of Indian state called canonical today this video game Swami was one of the Shankaracharya a successor of adi shankaracharya and he wrote many books interestingly I am coincidentally the retreat that we did last time Montrachet available that a book also is attributed to with the earnest one the same author so we are reading the book work at the same honor but this is the more advanced book this book is called called the punch of the sheep with your Nicoise means it was a very very interesting character he was a saint philosopher a great content of course and it became but he also was a politician he started he helped to found the last of the major Indu kingdoms because of the Muslim invasions most of the Hindu kingdoms have been taken over by the Muslim invaders and so with the Iranian help to find what is called in Vijayanagar Kingdom but then maybe one of the last major in two kingdoms about seven hundred years ago and it did it successfully and it lasted for a few hundred years and we that - also was finally destroyed so he was into politics big time there he was the head of the pontiff of the string theory but of the monastery he was a philosopher he was a saint and so on and he's written many many books among them of course the most famous arguably is dispatch machine the title petrova she literally needs 15 chapters there are 15 chapters when the other she's book with 15 chapters what are these 15 chapters there are all chapters of Vedanta each of them independently teaches us introduces us to be done and independently and differently that's the beauty of the book you get 15 different approaches to the same teaching the teaching you already know you are wrong that's all and nothing more than this so you are relevant that teaching will be given to us in 15 different chapters each chapter complete in itself in fact the book that we study last time trick - elevator that's like one chapter of this book in fact it's less than one chapter of this book this book is little more advanced than that so there are many assets introductory texts well on the sound and regressive America are Kubota there is a production booty banana panning Asha punch of the she this book and there are other books also so this book is 15 introductory chapters on Advaita Vedanta and out of which we are going to do one the first one that's that's our syllabus for the next three days instead one only what about the resins will get missing out a lot actually or not what are you going to learn in the first month is exactly what his Moodle to teach you the second in the third and the fourth briefly the fifteen chapters can be divided into three three sets of five each the first five second pipe and the third pipe just as one two five six to ten eleven to fifteen and they are called the first fiber power remaining a factor Viveca means philosophical analysis so you're trying to find out the reality through philosophical analysis the second fiber or deeper path check under the file concerning the land people means land basically those of I was supposed to be about pure consciousness brother Mannis pure consciousness the third by inner cord on an adventure that means the five concerned with bliss Brahman as bliss another such chit Ananda existence consciousness bliss so is the first five about existence in the second type of our consciousness verified about bliss there is a claim but is not really true because in though in each of these chapters you will find various approaches the first chapter itself we find approaches to brahmanas pure existence pure consciousness and pure place okay having said that how are we going to study the three steps in monastic study as I mentioned shia-dominated which means systematic study hearing it and that at that stage your question should be uppermost in our minds the question should be what did he just say what is the text just say can I repeat back you know in the traditional systems you're supposed to memorize everything so I'm not going to ask you to do that will empty the house pretty fast if I ask you to have to memorize 700 your own suspect but what I'm going to ask each others is that we should be able to say at least in our own words the gist of what we are hearing so that's the first stage what was said the second stage is one step forward from there is do I get it do I understand it this is what was said and now do I get it I mean between their big questions and then the third stage will be is it real it's like here is a book in my head now if I ask you what did he say you'll say yeah you said there's a book in your hand Stage one you know what I said Stage two will be do you get it yeah I got it there's a book in your hands and stage three will be is it true is it something theoretical is it something intellectual is it a fact fact fact so the third stage will be is it in fact uses to be informal as real as have shown is it real for me that I'm the witness of the body mind that I am an unchanging consciousness awareness is it real before that you like get it before that what did he say what what what is the text or did he say second is what are my questions like get it is it clear once it's clear is it weird third stage is of course the stage of enlightenment if some do reach it when I'm good dependent but at least the first stage is compulsory for everybody and then retreat we should have a general idea of what was said and the second stage is what I'm hoping for but as many of us as possible we should be yeah I get it what he said and I work towards making it real for the effect for the interesting thing is when they not this is you are not the body you're not the mind you are the consciousness that awareness in which the body and might appear they are insisting it's a fact as much as this pain in my hand is a fact as much as that you have a body to experience a body is it not a theory if she don't seem to be very I experienced a body a body appears to be I I see it and touch it unfortunately sometimes that means you smell it and so is it a fact yes a mind appears to me when I look inside thoughts ideas feelings desires memories does it come to me does it come to you that yes just like you said confidently without any doubt here is a body here is am idea I did it it's a fact they don't exist that this from an existence consciousness bliss is as much a fact right now you just have to see it you don't have to make it a fact you don't have to become wrong you are not all you need to disentangle yourself from the idea that from the foolishness that your body mind from this notion that your body might not denying that the body appears to you not denying that a mind appears to you but appears to you what to what does the body appear to what does the mind appear that's what we'll investigate and we will try to see that so that those will be the three stages in our study What did he say do I get it is it you sure another chance this transmission of knowledge is the essence of Vedanta a little bit of caution here I'll end with a warning note I wouldn't know this what are two things I need to do before I end what note is this and as we study this and as we begin to get it two things are very appealing in this path what is you begin to see that actually you don't do anything it's already done it's already accomplished you just have to see it for what it is so that's very tempting here is a path every advances you have to put an intense effort life after life if to do enormous amounts of good and important above all red cross has ever done if you do it honest amounts of unselfish will to some people in the world you have to believe in God or some garden surrender to God you will have to meditate hours and hours and hours and days and days till you need eight and you are born out of your money and all of this practice has to be done before you have any chance of getting any kind of illumination and here it's a the Enlightenment is available to you without doing anything first or very attractive and the second thing which is very attractive is all let us say that it takes time you have to wait this one says it takes it can happen at an instant it can happen in this very class it can and it's not a false promise actually it has advertised things to happen when it happens it happens in an instant now because of this many people are attracted to it if one you begin to get it you begin to see them and these are not around claim these are true but the mistake them the problem is people you get a feeling that this is the real thing I've had people tell me in the heisman list this is a real thing my wedding my crew tell me about this earlier is wording the ashtavakra gita reading it my guru spends his time water in the Tulsi plant discipline is particularly dear to the English why didn't he tell me an Internet person just your good as it will read the Islamic Rita said I suppose so so after having read it and understood it is watching the Tulsi plant and praying to God and fasting and doing all kinds of spiritual practices yeah so spiritual practices should not be a burden on any account I suddenly begin to get down to a lay down oh then why was everything that little mantra again a disaster you're not asking for disaster all the spirits are crying moral life has to be maintained strictly spiritual practices have to be continued whatever you are doing while you're not doing should be doing spiritual practices have to be continued okay this is one thing this is the second thing is so the first thing is do not think that you can stop spiritual practices then I found something better than meditating or praying or doing good to others no all those are very useful in Vedanta the second thing is it's very powerful it's very direct if there is any direct way to enlightenment this is it repeat this is it from a pedantic perspective all our temples and worship is ultimately meant for this this getting it all our meditation is ultimately meant for this this is not meant for meditation this is not meant for worship or anything like that all other spiritual practices building up to this enlightenment I am drunk everything is meant for bringing you here so this is the highest if you can call it a spiritual practice at all you might not feel like it this we are where we are sitting here listening going to talk about bunch of the study that is the highest spiritual practice that the most ancient spiritual tradition of the world holds Advaita Vedanta I am NOT making it up here untrained Amina did you go to the Himalayas and study there isn't among step they they tell you exactly what I'm telling you coming to this point trying to understand this is the final spiritual practice everything else that you have done in life has brought you to this point this is not meant for any other practice all practices are meant for this now this leads people to have a kind of non realistic superiority complex I know the truth now and you guys who were praying or going to church of temple way down there it's good but it's kindergarten and you Yogi's were praying to meditate well there are texts which in Nandu I belong to it say that you are yes in this book also your only bondage is that you are trying to attain Samadhi that you are trying to meditate is your only bondage this is the only foolishness that you have so things like that so that leads to a sense of security until we attain enlightenment there is no reason to be superior to anyone it's a trick the mind so know that all are walking the spiritual path know this keep this knowledge and then take a look at that let's take a look at our lives honesty about our own license of the greatest man I should know where now where I am is it really Vedanta which is my main problem or is it just on my mind is restless if a mind is restless meditation is the right thing to do right now am I too involved with my own life my own little problems then unselfish work is the real solution it'll go well there is the shoe pinch let's find out for ourselves you not to tell anybody it's fine it work for ourselves and practice that so there's no need to be only transitivity complex you know they go along with nose up in the air what is what did I want to tell you I just start the first two verses and then we will go on to the first talking tomorrow the first two verses and invoke a tree the tradition in Vedanta in these all these books is that you start with this education to go on and to guru to your guru then you go on to what you want to speak about so the first two verses are this chant and if you'd like you can chant after me I'll tell you the meaning is not not much to be said there I mean one could go on and on by the way there are different translations of a the one which we are using is the English translation by Sony swaddle but other physicians are there different Indian languages and the tradition in Vedanta or another Indian philosophy says there is a text and there is get commentaries on the kannada text and then we start coming to you recommend reading the commentary on the and so on so this is the text bunch of the she written maybe tierney 700 years ago and there is actually a suspect commenting are very nice coming tree this is the witch it's a pocket version of the bunch of the she used here in the book it's it's all in Sanskrit if the original bunch of the she and the Sanskrit Coventry and so in such a nice coincidence that the Sanskrit committee was written by a scholar called wait for it Ramakrishna so it's called the Ramakrishna coming to me on bunch of machine that also base makes me to a interesting thing which our Rajesh basiago Mishnah said he didn't like this book nothing against the book he didn't like the people who read this for us he said these people they read the bunch of the she and troubled me knowing something you must say that but the punches that she says this this theorem what do you say to that so he asked this is a funny place when he asked somebody have you written a bunch of the she and the young man said he come in the way but this does not mean he's criticizing the virtual machine it's not against offensive the she clearly this one place install Victorian and it's better it's there he praises the punch of the she you know be praised it highly this one of the best books are not were they wrong despise but sufficient it should really read it and many of them so on the arena and this first talk in the West one of the positions and so on so powerful text and they're going to start it we just start the invocation purses and stop it versus money money money Bernie nominee shankaranna Shankar Onondagas the Guru of the young he said I salute my guru Sri shankha roundish reason honorific so I salute my guru Shankar Anandi the deeper meaning of that is Shankara means Shiva Shiva is brother than the ultimate reality so Sundaram is that honor under there means bliss if it show how our inner inner self is is pure bliss so another in the world Shankara the no word honor the place means you your inner reality so shangri-la movie that thou art you are bad so if it's there's a deeper meaning to there that it speaks about the essential teaching of Vedanta you are wrong so now most rochonc around gurupada bother with underneath the lotus feet of my guru that's a figured stylish stylistic use of words you know always you bow down to the feet of you good people ask why the feet but that was the tradition in even in say in medieval Christianity or in the Bible you party fighting at the feet of the Lord so I bow down to the lotus feet of the guru what does that do it destroys the sharp of ignorance problem remember the vivid mother constructing the problem it destroys the shower of ignorance rather is the other way not it's a shot itself sharp which destroys ignorance it eats up ignorance ground of the grass they took our money what what do they what will the lotus feet of my guru do they eat up the charm of ignorance let us sit with let's put it this way they eat of the short of ignorance what does the sharp of ignorance do it creates the samsara our entire world of suffering of samsara so what is it what is the source ignorant and what is the effect if it services with effect what is the effect of ignorance samsara this is this life which I'm suffering from so all the suffering that I have is due to one thousand the ignorance and that ignorance will be destroyed by the grace of the lotus feet of my guru that's the meaning of the first person and then next one save our mother taste Assam save a lil mother day the Sun so Kapoor hiya so come with me first it starts off I see those who are devoted to the local speed of the Guru they get the qualifications for vedanta remember every minute that takes starts with the four for paulo fication and he hasn't mentioned them he just indicates them that one has to be qualified for vedanta what are the poor for qualification just so that we know and then before beginning any dynamic study we must keep our eyes on like you study when you're driving you know you keep your eyes on the gas and the speed and all that you keep your eyes on these fourfold classification what is we make discrimination between the real and the unreal basically a kind of instinctive understanding that there is something to this religion business that there is some brahman enlightenment something possible then wanna work sure whatever whatever way you imagine it your inner feeling is each there our and are there yet but unconvinced is there if you have the conviction you have been wakened the second one is difficult where are you that ultimate reality that enlightenment which I'm looking for not Brahma that's my goal everything else does not matter everything is a secondary my purpose of life is enlightenment remember how we started we are spiritual seekers and our purpose in life is entitlement not God or some shower but my life for God not God is a convenience for my life but my life is for God so very Rama means complete dispassion for all other goals what's the goal of your life pleasure power no I have tasted some of that doesn't work for me you still may have when with the irony was a chief minister or something yet power the other eminent as the pontiff of shrink a demon yet power he had learning he had faith and so you can't get the midst of that but those are not your goal anymore you're not looking there for satisfaction anymore that's all so we're on again but this passion for all the goals in life because you know that they will not give you peace and the third one is discipline the six for discipline what is the six for discipline don't be confused for qualifications the telephone up which is a set of six alright so don't get confused first with a second murajjab third one is a six for discipline what are the six for discipline very quickly Shamala whiteness of the mind calmness of the mind focus pay attention gets Shama let not the mind we scattered anywhere else raha control all of the same service motor organs your feet should not take you away from the may not the class your ears should not be listening with you know and sitting in a way not the class but here for listening to something else no so I should not be looking out of the class sometimes as kids in school class is going on is boring and you more interesting things in life outside know all the same servants what our answer should be under our control so that it's on the same path towards Vinod lead study and enlightenment so control of organs dama titiksa a spiritual fortitude I'll put up with the troubles that the world throws at me darkness it may be too hot or too cold I may not be feeling on that curve or I may be a man and I shall problems health problems relationship rough whatever the world will continuously throw problems how many sacrifices how much toughness you have to maintain to for your career how much toughness you have to maintain for your family so now usually spiritual practices get the shot what what is it got short shrift short shift yes I am not reading to go to headache now I won't meditate today that don't feel like it or I won't study today you never did say that I won't turn up for my work today pretty soon you'll be out of a job if you did that so we have Minnesota we have to put up with a lot of troubles our career or family of the applications similar toughness for us our Benanti pursuit detection which means toughest spiritual fortitude forbearance then who karate pulling bad reminder or lifestyle stepping back from messing around with like enjoying different things in life I'm going no you clearly the deck for action if you have many things your to-do list is full it keeps it gives you some time and energy for Bernardo no you have to clear that with joy cooperate you literally seems withdrawing getting back ruddy enjoying things in the world apparently reversing it having reverse Samaha the next one is samehada focus on below some are you clear the text you could energy now now what you do with it come to Luna comes in they contain attenti be retreat yes focus on without the Samara concentration don't let it flow back into the world again and then shuttle a faith then what this book tells me what the teacher tells me it's true let me take it as a working hypothesis I don't know it yet I'm not dead bury it but let me not cut it now right now let me just keep it okay this is what is saying let me see if I can get it it's not blind belief it's not even the belief or faith which religions asked for it's just the faith which a professor in a class might ask for when you enroll for a class in economics or physics you don't go straight away go ahead and say the book is nonsense the professor is lying then you will never learn anything you just go in and say that here the book is correct I don't get it let me work at it what the professor said is I'm sure it's right is right but let me just take notes and think about it try to get it so that much faith shut up in the scriptures I mean in the text and in the teacher so those are the six flow in the silver sama dama titiksa who Perotti samehada and shut down so there's a six participant there's a third one in the fourfold modifications and then the last one is mu mu should have an intense desire to be free I won't have an intense desire tell you the truth Swami I'm a little bit of desire to be free I'm going to be nice to be enlightened but not all that intense don't worry as you intensify this verse three that desire to be free will that fire will be stoked it will become stronger and strong it increases over time hepatech all right those are the qualifications is indicating here those whose minds are purified by service to the movie basically means person who has got these qualifications for them easy enlightenment so cravat harder to assess for the easy for ease of enlightenment because the conditions are difficult data and the Brahma sutras are passed in the conventions of chancre are difficult so for for easy enlightenment of such people with a way of this this analysis vivica's philosophical analysis this really means separating the truth from the fall so it's a process this is the beginning of the book yes yes the vision and Kingdom which was founded by by vedanta swami he encouraged career and two brothers to found it and the greatest king of the dynasty was krishna when he grew up he read comics I mean here we had this comic books I'm a ginger guitar for children so I am everything about fish today Raya was the great artist sir 5 min right he comes from that place that's why I say but now I mean though their magnificent ruins there if you go it you can actually see them yes any other come yeah there's a question there prove it it will tell us what definition says and then it will lead us in understanding so that we get it what it says we get it intellectually and then the third step is it becomes a real force that step also has to be taken yeah so this book is the old detailed presentation of the insides of the Aleutians in if you go to the finishes first of all it's archaic Vedic Sanskrit language it's not just a script but it's that's much more let's go to 5,000 years old second each Voytek there's not much attempt at philosophy philosophy are trying to answer questions those are just insights being thrown out by by the Rishi's who realized those things but we have questions we would like to understand what does it mean to say that I am NOT the body what does it mean to say I am your consciousness explain it to me what is your consciousness what is wrong if we have such questions and we do then you come to such course yes I am well that becomes in the first chapter but it's all Silla it's also a very very powerful chapter in fact tomorrow you can see the power of this chapter the first talk tomorrow is probably the most important talk in the world series this time and what he's going to do tomorrow is from verse number three to ten in just eight verses the whole plate of it under that you are running infinite existence infinite consciousness infinite bliss he is going to show you that you are that on the basis of experience and reason what experience job daily experience nothing beyond your experience and I am NOT just reason he's not going to quote from the operations he's just when you take a step by step and show you that you are rather if you if you follow any understand then you will see my god forbid I never see this what an incredible thing and the end of it we may not even want to believe it but the power of that process is undeniable and we will definitely end up being able to shake it so the first chapter is very powerful at the beginning of you two squares this evening you had mentioned about conventional spirituality yes and they even mentioned several times about could we or we ask for the word and then work the word work so yes when we go go to God in the temple what to just see most people not the people people here because we are here because we have questions of our spiritual life otherwise why would you come here I'm not promising that after this this series you win the lottery are your health will improve substantially our I'm not promising anywhere any improvement then why come here we are spiritual seekers but most people who go to a temple or a church of any kind of religious institution on a regular basis what are they seeking for if you see what they are seeking from they are seeking that the light they are reading let it be a little better let God's blessings beyond me you see is that so bad no it's not bad but what are they asking God for they are asking God for the world health money prosperity better relations the children should listen to me things like that so that's what you are asking from and that's basically all of that is the word you're asking for some sod some song as always a package deal it will bring you happiness and exchange will bring you so much and there's no end to it till now there has been no end to it if you ask for more subs are no into it we make analysis in one place never ask for anything because wait for it never ask for anything because you will get and as we go more into it not that we will realize how how much of a terrible thing that is it just prolongs this game going to heaven is not to go heaven is a better better version of this life the Hindu idea is cyclists we have gone to heaven many times when we make under came to this country he shocked many people when he said I have not to come come here to teach you how to go to heaven I've come here to teach you how to stop going to heaven or earth or hell for that matter of thirst and stop this cycle so thank you very much I prayed to Sri Ramakrishna to the holy mother to Swami Vivekananda to the omnipresent divine everywhere the spirit right here that mainly studies that we will undertake over the next few days they are prayers they are meditations we have our aspirations reach the divine and mate return to us in the form of blessings in the form of grace mate help us towards our entitlement we people for the welfare of all sentient beings all over the universe with this prayer we are undertaking this journey [Music] you