Video 21

18. Shanti Gita - Class 18 - Chapter 2 , Verse 20

[Music] [Music] he oh lord lead us from the unreal to the real lead us from darkness to light and illumination lead us from death to immortality and ever more shine in our hearts with your resplendent face of peace peace peace be unto us all so we are reading santi gita the advice of sri krishna to arjuna which he gave it when arjuna was in bereavement due to loss of his son a woman in the war on the thirteenth day of the war guru shetter one and here shri krishna talks about exactly like the bhagavad gita we read normally [Music] but is it focused on more on vedanta and last we saw that we have read after verse number 19 and we find that sri krishna taught us that these people who are attached to early enjoyment are deeply bewildered always running after wealth roaming around whimsically being attached to children relative wife and others their mind is anxiously engaged in maintenance of his own family members and is always depressed ever restless confounded and thinking day and night where can i procure something a little worth of grass worldly people like that are confused and they turn away from the nectar of happiness and carry only a load of suffering and cry out in life so that is the condition of we the human being we live in the world and that is the maya which keeps us attached to the world and not look at the higher dimension of our personality the divine and next we we hear that sri krishna said that from brahma to a blade of grass all these objects are disgusting like a dog excretor therefore they are to be rejected along with all these things the desires change even the desire to enjoy and those things is talking of the tremendous renunciation needed for knowing the truth and is what type of detachment is talking about is that that everything even the position high position of the power of brahma who creates the universe is is useless and he does not find any interest in that so it should be total detachment and how that detachment will go the desires for sense enjoyments do not arise know the vasana in the bhuga in the experience of the senses desire is gone and they have such a detachment like detachment will be to that extent disgusting as eating once vomited food so this type of disgust will come for worldly enjoyments and the acts which gives us that enjoyment thereafter he has to practice the spiritual life is for his building of the ground that how to be a real lover of the truth they should have to have this foundational characteristic and that should be the detachment from anything of the universe perfect detachment and perfect illumination when it comes the revelation is there itself so desire for sense enjoyments no udaiti vasuna desire when the fields that they are all disgusting nothing appeals to that person thereafter they will have to practice so therefore after practice the control of the mind control of the senses then samudamu he has mentioned awareness comes then detachment is the second point tremendous detachment should be in the heart of the seeker of truth and then you will have to have this wealth characteristic to be imbibed in life swama dhamma control of the mind and the senses desisting from worldly enjoyments then to the puruti then samadhan followed by economity of the mind there comes one that generates in the heart of a person that is through our faith and that faith is very important has been mentioned in new punished what is saddam a tremendous faith in the words of the upanishads the sages the statement of the sages and their experiences and what our teachers give us are that confirmed truth to you'll have to have this all these 21 accumulated then another characteristic then we need the desire intense desire to be liberated liberated from the thai bondage bondage of this world and worldliness now this type of person who has this type of spiritual practice and accumulated these qualities then should guru master it that must be read that person should go to his spiritual teacher and then take refuge at the feet of that spiritual personality we call guru so this vedanta is very much available to this type of people who have these characteristics and capabilities therefore it is very important that we practice more of this that is in vedanta service read and that is the here in shanti gita secretary is advising arjuna that you collect all these and this type of characteristic when comes in their life then you have to take refuge and so guru with a piece of wood firewood in the head and take refuge in the guru and guru will then teach him so what here also same way today's reading from verse number 20 then we read it says [Music] [Music] [Music] the guru who is the givers of wisdom knowledge comes only through guru it is a it is not the secular knowledge secular knowledge also we need teacher but in spiritual knowledge it is much more important that the wisdom and the power is transmitted from guru to disciple to disciple disciple so guru who gives the wisdom and janua data guru sakshat sangsharu arnaval taaraka is the ocean of worldliness is the savior from the world of ocean of worldliness in which we are ignorantly diving into it forgetting our divine nation so guru gives that wisdom to and shri guru kripaya by the grace of guru only shishah the disciple tarit will be able to cross the ocean of worldliness we find that even the life of sri ramakrishna we find that guru is necessary to prove that shiramaki himself accepted gurus he himself first we see that had they all the experience of experiencing the highest wisdom by crying and weeping to mother kalima what are you please show and this and that my life is so tremendous of course all the qualities what we read now has been perfectly manifested we do not know how god realization is possible we look at ramakrishna's life then we can really feel that that it is possible that at any moment it is possible but one student should be ready for that he should be a student like uh swami vivekananda and teacher like ramakrishna student like student like ramakrishna and teachers like tuthapuri see it is instant effect we are taking we are we are not thinking that he is avatar now we are thinking that as he as a person to demonstrate in life how intense one should be if we read any scripture and compare the life of sri ramakrishna then our understanding becomes very clear so here we find that gyanodhata guru actually sang sharon because the world goes away world of duality world of name and form world of this misconception about brahman seeing the world we see a brahmana everywhere it is only brahman what a mistake that i am seeing it as this world of duality its men women trees plants all these diversity infinite number of names and forms we see but we don't see the truth it is only the brahman alone or it is the only satchidananda self but it is not that who will unveil that covering for me but what is the necessity of guru is a very important thing in spiritual life as you are saying that sriram krishna had all this experience even mother appeared before her and in what way she saw the go to the experience sriram you know saw mother and just at the point when he was trying to kill himself the mother saw the image of mother the form and then it became radiant and it is light and emitting light and his whole inner sanctum sanctuary is full of light and effulgence and then spreading that to the east to the west to the north and south is all ocean of light and light and light and light and light and just drown into that huh so and in that state he was there that day and next day so he came back to the consciousness outer consciousness though he find that he has a have done it so far then what why again so much sadhana why the gurus are coming them it is to validate of course everything happens in the life of the incarnation the validation of the scriptural truth so first of all it is to prove that you have to cry we get ready and then when you are ready we need we we we need not have to such gurus come in our life you know in everyone's life it comes no when proper time came and in perfect situation just we are connected that way and in ramakrishna's life it is surprising all the gurus are coming to him he is not going anywhere that means when the perfect situation comes this com union connection happens why it comes because it there is a traditional wisdom is it your experience hallucination or is correct who will verify that so guru you are expert they have their own experience and they give that validation by the experience and the student is given that and he then finds that that is with ramakrishna saw that his own experience he saw and takur expressed in different places that bhairavi brahmani said this and i experienced this so all the experiences should be guru mukhi that because whether to it is not mental hallucination it is not your mental creation to prove that and particularly people like us who are deeply in ignorance we need some guidance we need as i say we need a good gps to drive the car otherwise we may go to the wrong direction and it will take longer time it's not nothing is lost because gita says in in spiritual life nothing is lost yes even no one practices a little bit of this spiritual discipline it does not get lost it will be in it is perfectly will lead to the goal but but this uh guru should be a important factor in spiritual life then to um to to emphasize that the next verse we find that is saying that [Music] [Music] without spiritual teacher there is no knowledge neither ganum no mukti no hope of having any liberation and and not even to any chance to reach that ultimate blessed state sadguti therefore a wise student vice person what a project not to be one this student who is wise wise be done should please the guru with diligent effort and through those white sebaya to please the guru through the service so that's also another point why why to go to serve the guru because it is in early days now through the internet and everything we get the mantras people start practicing themselves also all the mantras are available all the chants and people do many things but then why the guru is necessary guru is necessary it is the mantra's written is something else but mantra being to make it alive mantra when repeated repeated repeated it becomes alive in me and that's impact this tremendous transformation of the character happens so that energy which is comes out of sprouting the mantra that should be a power that power transmission is called this transmission of the spiritual power now the shakti that's a power so it is within him and previously there was not these are available all these wisdom this practice were not available in those days the with the time of what we are reading now in this all the knowledge was in the in the gurus and guru's knowledge so it was kept very sacred and secret and they will not give this wisdom to anyone and everyone as christ said don't throw your pearls among the swine and and because it does not do any benefit to the person if he is given who is not a perfectly ready student it will not have a good effect it will have effect and sometimes it is not good effect we find that even ramakrishna no we give that to what no bitcoin said that please give me you have touched everyone and i am the only thing asking for so many days help me help me and as shirama krishna said okay it will happen i am sick let me be better and it will happen i'll do it but no no no you'll have to do it today and actually it touched and it happened a total transformation came all the experience of brahmagyano seeing god everywhere day and night it started and and by by god's grace it happened but what happened after three days oh seeing god everywhere with eyes closed with eyes open and perfectly feeling the presence of the divine everywhere it is so overwhelming that he said i cannot maintain i cannot handle the situations of day-to-day life anymore and then you have to go back to sri ramakrishna and humbly say oh please i cannot handle anymore please take back what is there and of course he said i feel i am a what a fool i am so i could have died in that experience why did i go back to give him that experience back to ask him to take back that experience but one thing he said that is the beauty of brahmagamma but whenever i remember i can feel that experience so it is that is the beauty of brahma-gana versus our hallucination hallucination may appear sometime but this constant undercurrent that flow of this knowledge and wisdom no one can stop that but sometimes it is covered sometimes it is less but whenever he used to remember he had the experience same experience so you know that's why it always i feel that there is a necessity of the students requirement very important and many people want to be have somebody just now and they think that it is it can be achieved so easily but even no it sometimes it shatters our nervous system it needs very regulated life to lead such like that's right practice of spiritual disciplines to enhance our capacity our mental capacity our purity of the heart the nerves actually as it's called the nervous system our nerves are not tuned to carry those high level of spiritual vibration no this is only for mundane experiences of life little joy little emotions it is made for that but to make it pure so that it can carry higher spiritual waves and vibrations we need to do your preparation that we have read today that and that's why the guru guru is carrying that but guru are very conservative in that sense we think gurus are very conservative but they are not conservative they were intentionally used to make the student ready for the spiritual wisdom to take in their life so uh we find that even in the punishers you know and the indra and what is that indra both of them went to the guru and they have heard that that the after attainment of brahma ghana that one it will reach the state of bishop that will state where there will be no shoka biri men no jara old days no myth too so please teach us but what happened guru at first when he approached both of them tell okay you go and do austerity people may think what type of thing we are coming for god realization and they are saying go and do satyagama's life if i know say he came to guru and surthakama's guru said oma you come okay take my cows and grow and come back when they become thousands what type of guru our our mind will say is very calculating guru no he is not a good guru because he wants his cows to be grown two thousand our materialistic idea will take us to that but swaddha is the fundamental thing that what is uh their uh satyakam got it because of his satan a guru has given me and by doing this and then he prepared himself and then you see how it happened the nature the cows are telling bobo satya kama oh cows never said like that but he is hearing that voice and and then uh that we all the all the corners are all uh filled with brahman like that light but four days four teachings no and when he came to guru guru saw his face beaming with joy no he said hari you i see that your face is beaming with joy did you give up your this guru and you took some instruction from some other guru then this humility of the student see he said no sir i i these are these things happen this i got from the cows and the fire and this bird and the rolling of the river i heard all these things but i do not know but i want from you again to confirm that experience guru said the same teaching so it is very important to get it that way to purify ourselves when we are pure the truth will reveal in our hearts so that's why preparation and then to go to a guru with such devotion such faith trust and with that to serve guru is important so means of course survive service idea is physical service most of the people think it is a service to physical service yes it may be physical service but that is only very many superficial if you really serve guru then it will happen we find that many of the of course they are great by themselves but we see suji maras no sami nirvana they start brahmana swami or why he was a good cook and to do whatever he needs and he could just serve immediately in his mood and maharaja is very pleased very pleased very pleased right and they gave brahma and they prepared themselves by their presence because their mind is lifted being in presence of maharaja everyone's mind is lifted so we find that sankarana on the mother before the passing of maharashtra blessed him so it's the same brahmaganu idea so we find that by seva but but what why will he get such brahmagani like brahmana like shivananda brahmana no so for us what to do personal shiva is a physical thing it is too insignificant it should be if someone gets a little little bit but that is not important importantly first the guru instructs us meditation prayer to purify our heart how we can do that so that is very guru sheva the guru shiva is a important plan that's a good one by seva he will have to please the guru why please the guru then guru will give his heart more earnest seeker if the teacher finds a student very uh need in need even in in our material world it happens no in the classroom when a student is very keen and honest the teacher gives away all the knowledge no so in spiritual realm also it happens like that no when they find that such a wonderful teacher then the teacher a student the teacher wants to pour his all knowledge to the student no we find that example in swamiji's life what is that that is in the casino and that time he wanted to learn the scriptures and he approached him and because he was not brahmin and other things that were the those days system so he said no you cannot you are not fit to listen to these scriptures but see the shraddha of the student and we become on this but giving this example what he did this guru who rejected him and he didn't give up so he was sitting in the steps and the early morning this discourse was going on brahma sutra and then whatever discussion goes on and swamiji was sitting in the steps far away distance and the steps of the hall where this class was going on and one day passed away and he silently left second day it happened and third day he was he after listening he was going away but the dash giriji he was also coming out and he saw someone is in the darkness moving some direction said hey who is here and then swamiji came and stood before him he said who are you no i am this whatever he said i am this and they said what are you doing here no i was listening to you you are listening to me what you will understand what do you do earlier i was listening here three days now no so please tell me what shall i describe which day's lesson like oh he's so tell me what did i say two days before so he started the first day you take this parts of the brahma sutra and you explained this way the sankara's commentary and you gave your commentary like that exactly as if he is recapitulating or like a what you call tape recorder and first day you did that and second day you took up this verse brahma sutra and then you explained in this way and that is the shankara said this and you are good this way and you come to this conclusion and today you started here and you ended here this is your conclusion today hands on i was so excited he rejected him saying that you are unfit you are not a brahmin and you have taken sannas your sunnah's guru this that and he said ah and he said you stay here and i'll give everything what i have i have learned what i have learned i'll give it to you and then he started staying with him then for some days but anyhow again it was a different story suddenly somebody said told dhanraj i am going away i i'll have to go back where why do you go back i don't know i'll have to my guru highs some guru why is sick i got a informed news i'll have to serve him care what is guru what is guru bhai brahman alone is truth and you are reading this and you are going to guru bhai then he said yes what can i do my my guru ramakrishna has given the responsibility of these our brother mouse so i have to go and i cannot so he gave up the money he took him uh money departure from his guru money this this type of honestness see they can go how far to give an idea example of the students shraddha faith trust and to learn the intense desire to learn at the same time when the teacher finds such earnest seeker how the teacher pours his wisdom and knowledge he was very sad that this type of student is leaving him so that's why guru shiva here means they advise the teachings to absorb and also sravana mananani deduction in this subject or we can say our whatever spiritual practice prayer meditation whatever whatever japan so uh clear idea krishna says here on verse number 21 that veena ganum there is no possibility of having any knowledge without acharya without the spiritual teacher namukti there is no question of mukti liberation no swadhvathi not reaching that state of perfect illumination or state of blessedness with one therefore a student will try his best with effort much effort should please to swayed guru now now what will happen now some prasanna [Music] it says when the guru is very pleased with the disciple by this type of service his humility his earnestness his desire to know and this this uh faith in guru's words all the swaddha means faith and trust both when he is pleased with this like vivekan is almost [Music] the student will say how shall i cross this ocean of sanctuary [Music] so he'll say yes i know i'll i will give you don't worry my child you will get freedom i will give you that wisdom but by which cross many people have crossed their the samsara before so like here the guru shishang then prophesied what the she showed the student he will teach the student or tell him what he said that nothing de ho very point yeah because arjuna is in deep grip so his sun is dead so here is a strong dose medicine i call as vedante is the strong dose medicine sometimes homeopathic medicine dose is also there ayurvedic dose is there but when surgery is necessary very or we used to say taku said that you know now it is yes so all those that's good in in one place but strong dose medicine is necessary so he's giving a good blow here not donde who you are not the body fundamental mistake is you are thinking that you are the body but you are not the body no indriyani you see you are all senses you are thinking identifying that you are the your senses and what sense perception you are getting they are all true and they are the reality and so much overwhelmed with these experiences that we don't want to see what is the reality but we are seeing the changeful universe with name and form which our senses are always deluding and showing us that we take is to be true not prana no manu neither your prana neither your mana neither your tea buddhi intelligence you are not all these things i like the guru is saying even neither your body neither your ear senses neither your energy prada body neither your mind neither your intellect you see a shangri-la you are the drastic witness you are perceiving is you are seeing them their functionality as trump saccidananda you are the embodiment of that consciousness blessedness and that absolute reality that is you not this but this this verse can go on to explain the whole video pipeshift analysis concept when you understand that yeshank drastica you are the witness jason you are the observer of them you can understand that you are such down on the big you are the embodiment of all this then pratibha nagasana so there will be no obstacle to stop this experience that ganum that ganum obstacle as soon as you hear from the suti mathu from the guru from the spiritual teacher when this type of student understands that and it listens and mind is prepared but those are not like us we have to listen day and night think day and night meditate like that that is the sadhana for us and that becomes the immediate experience of a student who can really and go to that point of thinking day and night really am i the body all the time you can analyze this that this body is changing how can it be real what i see today it is not the same where is our body when we are 25 years old young body gun a hot young body yesterday's body is gone but i am saying i am the same that's a misconception but but the consciousness i that is the thing which is really behind and i that is the consciousness but i am not looking at that i am thinking this is me my energy oh my i am very weak today as you become old i become very weak today i i have no energy you know so you think that your energy is you energy is full energy is less i am weak i am powerful our strength so you are identifying we are identifying in that level in riyani senses my eyes are becoming dull my ears are becoming we can senses you think that your sense is you so this is not you no manu mind everyday struggle we meditate we see at least how mind jumping here and there who needs to prove that mind is an object and we see the object we see we see every day all our practicing period where does it go where does it move but the trust is observing but we note don't pay attention to the observer but we are observing the mind and display and identified there and theo buddhi understanding and etc but i am so as soon as one hears this when perfectly pleased by the service the guru will awaken the disciple by teaching you are not the body neither the sense organs nor the vital energy not even mind and intellect you are the witness and the observer of all these the body mind and senses and the embodiment of existence consciousness bliss absolute one will attain knowledge immediately as soon as one a competent student divide up all obstacles listens to these teachings so this this is the lesson and it is the lesson of vedanta all the time but to practice is more important so how can he really apply this and arjuna listening to this again and though he heard very hard once in the bhagavad-gita said at the beginning that he's arjuna said i heard from you these lessons but i forgot and i am now deluded again so say that's why it is again reported in this vedantic very very it is totally as i go through this text we find it is a very good vedanta text to be studied so so i can end here and i will request to make it follow so here we are you are blessed today that you are we are having something short of she is with us 10 15 minutes he will just say about veda and what we this this discussion he will elaborate and he will give a that's really extra bonus for all of you we finish like that and give some time for tv but it's good so i am requesting some shout out who is here uh he came so you are getting a blessings you will be speaking about the vedanta just whatever comes in his mind is informal don't don't take it any serious well i certainly wasn't expecting this when i came to the class but maharaja's wish has to be taken as a command but certainly maharaja the last verse which maharaja ended with would be the essence of vedanta and it's not difficult to say something about it that's all i keep doing day in and day out the importance of the guru and the teaching so the guru is important because there is this knowledge which does not come naturally ignorance is natural we don't have to go to school to learn that we are the body we are the mind that is that is that comes with our birth shankaracharya says in his uh introduction to the brahmasutras his commentary he says that naisa gekko i am loka viva this is natural the transactional life which we which we have day in and day out we think we are the body we don't even think that we accept it without question and this mind this person we think we are this person or we we behave as if we are this person and it would never really occur to us to question this so this is the crucial role of the the shruti the upanishadic teaching and the guru who transmits this teaching to us without the guru and the upanishads this knowledge would would not come we would never come across this knowledge what is this knowledge as revered maharaj chanted from the verse that you are not the body you are not the senses you are not as the um the prana you are not the mind you are not the intellect you are the witness of all of these drastica you are the the seer the sakshi now one might say what does it mean that i'm not the body clearly the body is there so the first stage in vedanta this is not question whether the body is there or not it is it would be too radical to deny that the body is there and it's obviously we are experiencing the body but what is the question which is raised here is are you the body which means is the body you and are you the body is there no distinction between you and the body now what vedanta does is it uses um this concept of the witness consciousness as a lever to sort of pry you in your understanding to show us the separation between the body and us the self how does it do that you are the drastic it says you are the seer you are the experiencer and that's something that resonates with us because it just takes a little bit of thinking to see that everything that we do in this life whatever we do we are basically we are experiencing we are always the subject all of our experiences have the structure of subject and object the subject is here called the drasta literally it means the seer and the seer the one who here smells tastes touches the one who thinks the the experiencer the subject now so what where does this leave us the basic principle here is the experience of the seer is usually different from what is experienced or what is seen i mean i am looking at this room and the people in it and the eyes are the ones which are doing this looking and it's the instrument and what they are seeing is very distinct from them as entities just in a very simple naive way physically they are distinct unless something is physically separate from the eyes the eyes cannot see them in fact the only thing the guys cannot see arise themselves so something has to be at a little distance from the eyes separate from the eyes and then only the eyes see them the drashta the seer must be different from what is seen generalizing it's not just seeing it's hearing smelling tasting touching all of that the knower is different from what is known this is the principle now if you apply that to the body immediately it becomes stunningly obvious we know the body it's very very clearly known you see your own body you you can touch it you can you can smell it you can you can feel it in every way so the body is an object which is an object of our knowledge and because it's an object of our knowledge it must be different from us the know or the seer this is not something that is um ordinarily obvious to us that what we see is different from the eyes that's pretty obvious but the body is different from us that's not obvious at all and this is what this this idea is what staying with and it's not very difficult if you stay with this idea the body is an object you'll begin to feel yes i am not exactly the body and body is not exactly i it's i'm continuously experiencing it and then we think a little more and we feel hey wait a minute when i fall asleep and i dream i don't experience this body i continue to experience i have dreams i have i see people i go to places maybe i'm eating i do many things in my dreams and having experiences experiences continue in the dreams and this body which is sleeping on the bed forms no part of those experiences that means i as an experiencing subject i can continue without even experiencing this this body how can i the experiencing subject literally be this body so that at least that idea takes root and then we apply it to a much more subtle level which is our sensory system this whole seeing hearing smelling tasting touching all of these senses which form the bulk of our experiences all the time am i the senses i'm not the objects which i experience all right but am i the senses themselves the entire sensory mechanism but that system also is obvious to me i'm aware of my eyes and the functioning of my eyes if i can see clearly then i'm aware of it if i cannot see clearly and i need glasses i remember at one time i stopped seeing clearly the letters on the page became fuzzy so i went to the doctor and the doctor said after examining my eyes he said it's serious swami i said what it's irreversible swami i said oh my god what what is that what happened you have hit 40. and there's no way back so he said it's apparently it's one of the uh one of the surest signs of being over 40 that you your eyes begin to focus a little less precisely so you need glasses that means i'm aware of my senses and the operation of my senses if i'm aware of it then i am the knower and the senses are also known the instruments by which i know the world are also known by me if they are known by me they are not me so i am the sensory system this extraordinarily powerful set of tools by which i draw in information from the world outside i am not that either and then it becomes even more powerful this mind which is doing all this thinking thoughts feelings emotions memories and processing all that sensory data this this very subtle thing which is going on inside me completely first person nobody has any access to it but this first person experience continuously having this is called the mind this also i know this also i can become aware of if i'm aware of the mind then i am that which is aware of the mind i am not the mind this is pretty stunning most people most mature thinking people can come to feel that i am literally not the body i'm some kind of embodied mind but i'm not the mind this is a like a bombshell i'm not even the mind and it's a very freeing thought a thought in the mind itself that i'm not the mind is also a thought but it's a very freeing thought you feel tons lighter body is still there senses are still working the mind is still there i am none of it and they are still working even the intellect vedanta we have this thing about partitioning the mind into two parts one is the mind with certain functions like memory ego um sensory processing and so on and the intellect because intellect is what we use for understanding and comprehension but that intellect also is a process it's definitely a part of the mind we are aware when we understand we are aware when we are struggling to understand when we are aware when we fail to understand the activities of the intellect are very clear to us in that case and that which is aware of the functioning of the intellect i am not even the intellect he so i am not that either i'm not even the the life forces which sustain this entire system body senses mind intellect the whole thing is sustained by biological physiological forces it's called prana when it is vigorous i feel it when i'm when it's weak i feel it i know it when i'm breathing in i know it when breathing out i know it the breath is the most visible manifestation of this prana the whole mindfulness breathing awareness industry depends upon it that you're knowing it but what vedanta takes away from it is you know it don't you yes i know it in that case you the knower of the prana you are different from the prana you're different from the body you're different from the senses you're different from the prana you're different from the mind you are a different distinct entity from the intellect here the anandamaya kosha is not mentioned but it's taken implicitly so the entirety of maharaja mentioned the entirety of the pancha kosher the analysis of the five sheaths of the human personality just indicated in one phrase here you are the knower of all of this but not quite the knower either because knowing is the function of the mind and intellect so he says drasta sakshi you are not a knower in the sense of knowing through an instrument through the eyes through the mind through the intellect no you are that which continuously shines and illumines so the sakshi is not a knower the sakshi is the witness consciousness which shines just like the light it's not a process knowing is a process since in vedanta we use two words sakshi pramata pramata is the sakshi itself when it engages with the mind and the intellect and senses it becomes a pramata but in itself it is just light shining light means not this kind of light awareness consciousness it's just constant pure consciousness pure means in the entirely totally subjective sense without the least taint of objectivity there so this pure subject shining is the sakshi i think we'll stop there but there's a question there's some are these the questions [Music] can you read the thought okay there's a question here if we pretend that we are not the body while not having realization does that help in the path to realization two points here first of all don't pretend vedanta is the path of knowing it the immediate objection to all this is i sort of get what you are saying but it doesn't work in practice in practice i run into a lot of problems and i say which something that might be shocking don't try to practice these things it's like somebody your rich uncle left you a ferrari and you immediately you don't know how to drive and you take it out on 101 out there you're going to crash first practice driving in in the parking lot before you take it out for a spin in traffic so first is to clearly understand pretend means you're already thinking about what you're going to do later on but first clearly understand in what sense am i not the party in what sense the body is there you don't have to pretend that there is no body the body is there notice one thing to keep in mind is vedanta is never against experience vedanta never denies our experience vedanta just gives us a deeper understanding of what we are experiencing vedanta in fact asks us to take a very close look at what we are experiencing we are experiencing the body and we are experiencing the activities of the body at no point we experience anything like a fact that i am the body no that's not there at all start there it's like telling somebody it's not a good example but still when you understand that you are not the car you can use the car better if you are under the delusion that you are the car you're going to be an awfully poor driver [Music] so do you have to pretend that you are not the car no you don't have to pretend you have to know that you're not the car this is not a game of pretending something otherwise what will happen is i pretend i am not the body i'm not the mind i pretend that i am brahmana won't work i remember a monk in the in uttarakhand he said so to the monks who whom he was teaching drikdrisha viveka so swamiji's have you understood that you are the witness and hindi in hindi said would you feel that you are the witness somebody must have nodded and he said in hindi both you're going to fall into a specially big pit which you have dug for yourself that pretend sakshi the pretend witness is not going to serve you you can pretend to witness your that means you can practice witnessing your thoughts that's a good meditation practice that what vedanta is saying when vedanta says you are the sakshi you are the witness of the body mind it says you are the witness choicelessly so whether you come to a single vedanta class or you've never come to a village class whether you believe in it or you don't believe in it whether you understand it or don't understand it you are already the choiceless witness of the body mind system if you know it if you get it it is a tremendous help a sense of tremendous freedom and one one more point a little bit against what i'm saying so let's set vedanta aside for a moment let's talk talk about practice in all practice and i'm not talking about what we we said just now about knowing that you are the witness or realizing that you are the witness but over practice control of the mind control of the senses all these are practices meditation is a practice just sitting still is a practice repeating the mantra is a practice now in all practice there is actually an element of quote unquote pretending what i'm not there yet i'm trying to be there and that's very good that's the only way we improve that the only way we become moral we try to be a little better than we are already and that way we are improving the body mind system overdo it we run the risk of being a hypocrite but don't do it at all you're not going anywhere at all then the body mind has to be trained all right when we think like i am not the body or mind we tend to question why we are doing karma how to avoid this trap simple whether you question why you're doing karma or not the reason we question it is because generally being centered in the body mind we have this very selfish motive to serve this body and mind since i am this body and mind everything that i do is in service of this little creature my exercise my food my even my spiritual practices everything goes to glorify this little body-mind creature and the moment i strongly feel i am not this then i question all my activities why am i doing all of that because those activities were generally based on a very selfish very deluded idea of the human personality now what do i do suppose i i strongly feel i'm not the body and mind and you are right you lose the inclination to act selfishly if i'm not this cage of flesh and blood why should i devote so much energy time effort to take care of it to serve it we shouldn't but here is the thing you cannot stop acting karma will go on karma is at the level of the body karma is at the level of the prada the the life forces karma is at the level of the mind it will go on as long as this instrument of body mind is there it will run its course in that case if i am not the body and mind and have this magnificent instrument why not use it for enlightenment and for the betterment of the world this is exactly what swami vivekananda said live for the welfare of all and for your own enlightenment so from a selfish action to action for the welfare of all wherever we are in whatever circumstance we are leading also to one's own enlightenment okay i think that's very good thank you so much and pranams to maharaj i think i take it as his blessing that he asked me to speak today yeah so you have really got a bonus really i was thinking that he is here so really really yes given the synopsis in short period you know you listen long lectures but with this short expression of 15 minutes you got the nutshell of entire vedanta and this question of practice if you can do that if we can do that not you but we and then really great blessings will come upon us so thank you all and may mother bless you tomorrow is gospel reading so tomorrow is gospel leaning at 7 30. om shanti shanti shantihi hari hum sri rama krishna panamus too my thanks to swami sarvopian and again you