Video 6

6. Vedantasara | Texts 30-32 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] so we are studying the vedanta and i believe we were on text number 29 we had done what is the purpose of this study what is the whole purpose of this exercise studying vedanta this text which is an introduction to vedanta what's the purpose of studying this or the whole of vedanta and the point is he says removal of the ignorance about our real nature to to remove the ignorance about our real nature and then what's the point of that what good is it suppose i mean the first objection would be i know myself i know who i am without the claims now that you do not know really who you are and we can show you that you are deeply mistaken about yourself so if you know your real nature then what would be the use i mean one objection could be i know myself and it doesn't that does not seem to help me i still am suffering and i still have so many limitations so the answer was attainment of bliss overcoming of sorrow so that is the purpose and here is not mentioned but in general the idea of enlightenment leads to liberation from this cycle of birth and death so this is how most indian philosophies would see the whole problem of human life that not only this life but we are stuck in this situation we have gone through it many times and we are going we are destined to go through this many times again some variation of this kind of life until we attain uh liberation how do we attain liberation in advaita vedanta all other of the philosophies have the same framework that we are in suffering and the suffering is not limited to one life it's been their law for many lives and it will continue unless we do something about it in the advaithic perspective the whole problem is we do not know our real nature which is actually free so once we know our real nature that we are this infinite being awareness we will realize that we are free and we will actually be free of suffering and attain fulfillment so put it briefly attainment of fulfillment overcoming of suffering is the goal of vedanta and that's the purpose of studying these texts also the next section is 30 it talks about a guru a teacher why is a teacher important a teacher is important in all indian spiritual traditions but especially in advaita vedanta where you know because probably because advaita vedanta is a knowledge system it's a knowledge based approach so text is important and the teacher is important because you're supposed to study this carefully and think about it and clarify resolve your doubts and finally get a conviction clarity ultimately enlightenment there the the role of the teacher is vital especially think of those days long before there were written texts available the teacher was the only way you would get get an access to this knowledge because the text was entirely in the teacher's head so you'd have to go to a teacher and listen even today when these texts are available it is still highly advisable to listen to it and to study it with somebody who is of the lineage who has i i don't say that but you have to go to a person who's enlightened how would we know but somebody who is committed to the lineage who is well versed in this knowledge and can transmit it to you so teacher is always important beyond this very practical very logical reason knowledge system requires text teacher therefore teacher is very important beyond this generally in all indian spiritual traditions a spiritual teacher a guru has a tremendous role as a spiritual mentor as a guide as a spiritual protector as a person who so shows the path who has walked along the path uh before us and can show us uh the you know the dangers ahead how to tackle them all these things so a teacher is known as the is revered because the teacher is the manifestation of the power of grace so god is gracious and the highest form of grace is spirituality enlightenment freedom from from samsara that's the highest function of grace and a manifestation of this power of grace in sanskrit anugrah shakti the power of grace comes through the teacher so god's grace operates to the teacher that's why the teacher is so revered i think it's kaveedas who sings guru gobind kade that guru and guru and krishna spiritual master master and god both are in front of me whom should i bow down to first whom should i show respect to first well it is only by the grace of the guru that i am able to see krishna i've got the vision of god so my first salutations go to the guru because of the grace of guru that i am able to realize god see god or attain enlightenment so this is the importance of the guru let us see what this text says there's a couple of texts about the guru i'm reading out text number 30 ayam adhikari janana [Music] what does this mean such a qualified pupil scorched with the fire of an endless round of birth and death etc should repair just as one with one's head on fire rushes to a lake with presence in hand to a guru spiritual guide learned in the vedas and ever living in brahman and serve him as the following and other shruti say there is a quotation let him in order to understand this repair with fill in hand to a spiritual guide who is learned in the vedas and lives entirely in brahman so what does this mean it says i am adhikari i am just translating the words of the text ayamadi khari means disqualified student what kind of qualified person what qualities are required we have already done that we have seen the fourfold qualities this person what does it what does this person do i'm jumping ahead approaching a guru approaching a teacher why does this person approach a teacher he says as if burning with fever or burning with a fire being scorched as if scarce squashed with what suffering what kind of suffering janana marana samsara the fire of samsara which consists of the cycle of birth and death which is a good thing being born not necessarily it brings you the infinite being within the limitations of a particular body and then you're subjected to all the sufferings of samsara not once many times without seize aadi etc etc means not just birth and death but whatever takes place specifically whatever takes place within birth and death so sickness and of old age and misery and failure and frustration all kinds of sufferings santa this is compared to a fire analla another means fire compared to a fire santa tortured by this scorched by this and he gives an example deeptashira jalara shame eva just as a deeptashira means just as a person who's got fire on the head now why a person would have fire on the head there's a different matter but suppose a hair has caught fire now what would the person do is rushing to find a lake jalarashi a pond or a lake where he can dive in and cool himself and you know like put out the fire just like that with that kind of burning desire another example which is often given is this a guru had a student a disciple who after many years complained that i'm not making progress in spiritual life i haven't seen god yet the guru when will i see god and he pestered the guru like that so one day the guru said come with me and they go to the river and the guru takes him and dunks the student in the water and keeps him down under water very soon the student is struggling um trying to come out to gasp for breath and then finally the guru lets him go and so a student comes up and gasps for breath and catches his breath after some time the guru says how did you feel oh i would have given anything for a breath of hair for a gulp of air i was dying the guru says when you feel like that for god you're going to say i'll realize god so that's another similar example approach is the guru what kind of guru shrotrium brahmanista so these are from the upanishads which describe what are the qualifications of the guru usually three are mentioned shrotrium brahmanishtam aka mahata shrotrium means the person must be okay backing up one might say that well what i want from a guru is an enlightened person he's going to teach me about brahman i would want that guru to be you know enlightened realize brahman the problem is we don't know how do you know how do you test and such people are very rare and far in between if that would my enlightenment would depend upon being the student of an enlightened teacher that would be very difficult so what then but are there any criteria at all yes there are criteria so what are the criteria uh shrutria means shruti the word shruti means the vedas specifically here vedanta the srotriya means well-versed in vedanta well-versed in the fundamentals of vedanta so a person must be learned in at least here in our case advaita vedanta the tradition of advaita vedanta why why does a person have to be learned why not just enlightened person maybe personally i mean the person could be enlightened um but might not be really able to help all kinds of spiritual um enquirers so that's why suramar krishna is to put it this way what is the use of studying so much and learning so much he said that a person uh who wants to kill himself can do so with a nail you know just as just a piece of iron can kill oneself but if you want to fight with enemies and defeat enemies you need a sword and a shield and all that so that's an example of how much depth learning clarity is required to deal with to help uh seekers of all kinds of all different stages all kinds of mentalities you have to deal with all of that so one needs needs this this thing that's why disciples of sri ramakrishna when they founded the monastery you notice they are engaged in meditation and prayer and intense spiritual practices but a lot of study also a lot of study which is what helped vivekananda later on in this country so anyway so sri the first one is the teacher must be well versed in a more general way nor if we just expand beyond the confines of advaita vedanta at least well versed in that teacher's lineage in that teacher's tradition so if i'm going to a bhakti teacher i would want that teacher to be well versed in the bhakti traditions so like that that's one shrotriya the second one is means literally that means not wounded or not damaged by desire so the person the teacher must not want anything from me the student other than my own welfare so the teacher must not be after money or power or any kind of other motive often you see these cults which are associated with religion especially in this country but in india also so one person is venerated at the teacher and it's all about the teacher's personality and there are hundreds if not thousands of people sort of blindly following a teacher that is not a good sign that's not a good sign that's not the approach in vedanta the teacher should not have anything to gain personally from this teacher-student relationship it should be all about giving knowledge transmitting this so that the student can attain enlightenment there's a very nice example given about the teacher-student relationship so there is what is called the philosopher's stone in in india it's known as paris one you know like a special thing which if it touches uh ordinary metal it it converts it into gold so if you if you touch anything with that it converts it into gold well the guru is something greater than this it's it's the guru converts you into a guru makes you enlightened and gives you the knowledge so it's it's the philosopher's stone can only convert ordinary things into gold but not into another philosopher's stone into another parish money but guru does that brings you up to the guru's level that's what the guru does and the third the third quality which is mentioned here is brahmanista brahmanista literally means being established in drama or as it is translated living in brahmana or being established in being established in brahman would mean the person is completely dedicated to spiritual life that the person is dedicated to a life of you know advaita vedanta would mean shavana mananananana the constant cultivation of this knowledge and the transmitting of this knowledge and you can see it's not a part-time teacher it's not um you know somebody going to give you a degree or somebody giving you a crash course for hundreds of dollars not like that this is the whole life of the spiritual teacher the spirit the teacher is completely dedicated to spiritual life and nothing else these are good three good signs so one is must be well versed in the texts in the tradition second is that must not have any ulterior motive any other especially any worldly motive third is that the teacher must be brahmanista established in brahman established let us save it established in the spiritual life that must be the whole purpose of that the teacher's life it must be must begin and end there nothing else is there in the teacher's lives except that so um such a teacher oppa sit here um approaching such a teacher and then then anu saruti follows such a teacher how do you approach upaharapani with gifts in hand so there was a formal way of approaching a teacher in vedantic times i mean in vedic times where what you would do is you the teacher the student who wants to learn from a teacher would go to the ashram which would be usually a forest hermitage and would go to the sage of the ashram would bow down and would offer among the gifts would be a bundle of firewood why a bundle of firewood because the ashrams would you know they perform the vedic fire rituals so i am bringing this to support your ashram basically symbolically that i am bringing what the ashram needs so i am offering this but that was that was the original idea in vedic times student would bow down and offer a bundle of firewood and this would be a signal this would be signal that i am here to learn vedanta why this is this actually it it directly refers to one of the upanishads that's what is being quoted here from the mundakopa nation guru maharaj the student for enlightenment for the purpose of enlightenment one should approach a guru how submit party with firewood so that explains this translation one might find peculiar why would you go to the guru repair to the guru is old english that is approach the guru why would you go to the guru with fill in hand like would you go there with gasoline or something like that no the whole point was to approach with the firewood which was used for the vedic fire rituals in the ashram i explained this in hollywood once in the ashram there and next in the morning when i opened my door there was this bundle of wood outside my nicely tied up in a cloth outside my door somebody took it very literally so they gave me this firewood i told this story to swami caitanya and he said well you know what happened to me many many years ago when he came to usa in the early 70s so he gave a talk about um the you know there's a in the same undercover initiative this description of the bow and arrow so and there's a whole you know it compares archery to spiritual life he described that and next in the morning he found a bow and arrow outside his door so this is the quotation means shutter means from the shrutis from the upanishads i'm quoting from the upanishads this and others etc and one more supporting text is given 31. such a guru by teaches the student how does he teach the student the method is given by the method of superimposition and de-superimposition what's that we'll see that's very crucial we'll see that today and again he quotes from the same thing from the from the same section of the mundakopanishad i'm on text number 31 now here is the quotation satyam [Music] what does it mean to that pupil who has approached him with due courtesy whose mind has become perfectly calm and who has control over his senses the wise teacher should truly impart that knowledge of brahman through which he knows that being imperishable and real very poetic very lofty basically the idea is that teacher is now pleased and transmits the knowledge of brahman to the student so okay these are all the preliminaries now we begin the whole thing the crucial thing in the in text number 31 was the method of vedanta i cannot stress this enough once in a while i'll point out what is a key text what is important um so here we are coming to a very central text which is important for all of advaita vedanta this is the heart of advaita vedanta one sadhu in uttarakhand said um this method of superimposition and superimposition is the heart of vedanta what is going on in vedanta is basically this superimposition d superimposition swami vivekananda calls it hypnotization de-hypnotization we have been hypnotized all that vedanta tries to do is de-hypnotize us um so what is this and how does it work we must have a full grasp on this because the rest of the book is just about this what will go on from now on will be this superimposition and de-superimposition um let me just read verse number or text number 32 and then i will uh explain so just like as always the author uses a new term and then defines it is defined superimposition d superimposition so first he has to define superimposition text 32 so so the sanskrit word for superimposition is another well-known word is very important word a key word in advaita philosophy it simply means superimposition a simpler word would be error much simpler word would be error so what what does it what does this say 32 asar is the superimposition of the unreal on the real like the false perception of a snake in a rope which is not a snake now a rope the classic vedantic example advaithic example is a rope maybe in the semi darkness and i do not see that it's a rope but when i look at it i suddenly see it's a snake obviously i'm making a mistake um it's a rope i don't see that it's a rope i see something is there i see something is there and look look closely or look look at it once more i say it's a snake now there is no snake there i am making a mistake so what has happened here and then later on of course i take a close look and i say oh it's not a snake it's a rope now what has happened here superimposition and december imposition how does the superimposition the first part of it happen what happens is there's some reality say a rope next the rope is unknown i don't know it as a rope i just know it as something and then then i make a mistake third what happens next next what happens is a mistake rope not known as a rope known as a something there and i look there and then the next thing is a is a mistake oh it's a snake and everything that is consequent upon the mistake it could they could you could be scared you could shout in fear or your heartbeat could a heartbeat could increase whatever depending on the mistake and then what happens next you take a closer look you examine it and by examining it you realize it's not a snake the error is corrected you realize it's not a snake it's a rope this realization it's not a snake it's a rope is called d superimposition in sanskrit apawa daha means negation or d superimposition superimposition d superimposition don't be fooled by the term imposition superimposition imposition might be that you put something on something here is a book i'm putting a pen on it but it's not like this it's not that there is a rope and you put a snake on it superimposition is taking something to be what it is not taking something to be what it is not that is super imposition that's not a physical imposition you're not putting something when you when the way it is said uh superimposition of the unreal on the real superimposition of a snake on a rope it's not that you take a snake and put it on a rope uh it is we take the rope to be a snake we mistake the rope to be a snake that is superimposition and correction of this error is called de-superimposition in sanskrit adheropa so what does this have to do with us it goes like this the story i had told once is a particularly useful here of the donkey you know the indian washer man goes around collecting clothes and so he'll turn up at your house he usually has a donkey and he'll take your dirty laundry and put it on the donkey and collect go around the neighborhood go back home and then they will go to the river uh bed or the river bank of the river the washerman and unload the donkey and then wash clothes dry the clothes it's a day-long process and then once the clothes are dried fold them all and then put put them on the donkey and come back home and the next day we'll go around on his rounds and distribute the clean clothes return the clean clothes to you so you can see the doggy is very important for all of this now this washer man he went with his laundry to to the river to wash the clothes and with with a donkey and he comes there to the riverbank when he unloads the clothes and then to his horror he realizes he has forgotten to get the rope with which to tie the donkey now he can't take his clothes to the river and wash the clothes because the donkey will wander off and if he loses the dog he is a poor man he is desperate when a wise person walks past what what is your problem why do you look so desperate oh sir the trouble that i am in uh if i go back home now a little bit the whole day will be wasted but i can't help i have no peace of mind when i'm washing the clothes because the donkey i may lose the donkey i'm a poor man it'll be disastrous for me and this wise person says oh don't worry you just pretend to go through the motions of tying the donkey as if you already you have the rope just like tying the donkey to the tree just pretend as if you have a rope will that work yes it will work and this man tries it you know he's tying the donkey as he sort of pretends there's no rope and he looks at the donkey and the donkey looks at him that uh watches him carefully and then having done that he walks backwards slowly watching the dunk in the dunk he's watching him but doesn't make a move it doesn't move a muscle the donkey standing there as if it's tired and slowly this man gains confidence in this and he goes and starts washing clothes and once in a while looks back to donkey standing there eating grass not going anywhere as if it's tied in the evening he goes loads the clothes in the donkey and says up let's go back home and the donkey doesn't move now he is in trouble he realizes what the problem is the donkey think it's it's tired but how does he get the donkey to move it was a real rope he could have at least untied it there's no rope how is he going to get the donkey to move and then he runs to that wise man's home and says sir what trouble you put me in now i can't get the donkey to move he said that's so easy just pretend to untie it make sure the donkey sees you he goes back and he pretends to untie it opens the rope as if there's nothing there the donkey watches and he says ha let's go and the donkey starts walking okay so this is superimposition and de-superimposition nothing happened but the donkey felt it was bound and the donkey felt it was liberated may sound funny the joke's on us we are like that we are like that donkey according to vedanta nothing is the problem right now but you feel that you are suffering and that is absolutely evident to us that we are in sorrow and we are in misery and what is the way out of this no matter how much vedanta tells you you are the infinite existence consciousness place that doesn't sound like anything within my experience so vedanta has to go through this process of showing you how we came showing us how we came to be in this state start from the absolute show us how we came to be this in this bound state that is tying the donkey and then from this state show us the way out to realize how we are brahman right now we are absolutely free things are perfectly all right right now that is the d superimposition untying the donkey that is called adhyaropa uppavada part of it is the first part of it we have already done vedanta just has to track the disaster that we have done we'll see begin to see how we we have come to come to be in this state vedanta will show us that and then show us the way out of it and at the end of it we will realize oh it was perfectly all right so in the himalayas they say what does vedanta do what does it give you it gives you what you've already got what does it remove what trouble does it solve it what does it remove it removes what was never there samsara you never had samsara you are brahman you never had samsara it's not that you will after enlightenment one begins one realizes oh i was in samsara there was so much trouble now i'm free of it thank god no i realize i never was in samsara this cosmic joke but the thing is we are playing the joke on ourselves and it's not very funny when you are at this state it might be funny once you are liberated that's why i think enlightened people are always basically very happy and also very amused at what's going on so many zen stories of uh they are about people attaining enlightenment and bursting out laughing all right now notice the stories that i have told they all are like this now you begin to see what's going on for example um you remember the story of of um of the king janaka who went to sleep and he dreamt that the con the country had been invaded he goes to fight a battle then he loses the battle and his country is conquered by the invader and you remember many of you have heard that story i've told it often and then you know he's driven out of his kingdom in exile he's hungry and tired he goes to a place where like a soup kitchen where what food is being given and that food which it comes to his bowl that is also knocked out of his hand by a kite which soups down and he collapses and falls down um bitterly lamenting his fate and he wakes up sitting on his bed it's a nightmare but being a philosopher the emperor janaka he thinks was that true or is this true and hindi was such a year such so was that true or is this true this could be a dream too it could be that actually there was a war and i was defeated and i fainted and now i think that i'm sitting up in my bed in my kingdom and nothing's wrong this could be a dream was that true is this true and then there's a whole story i will not go through that finally the sage ashtavakra comes and tells him that you know he asked the sage was that true or is this true he says that at that time when we are rolling in the dust and having lost your kingdom and miserable all this power and glory and safety and security which you see all around you now was all this there he says no and now all that defeat and and humiliation and the bitterness and sorrow you felt at that time and all the experiences so you know that you'd lost your kingdom and you were rolling in the dust and is all that there right now the emperor says no then neither that is true nor this is true the emperor thinks is nothing true then he says but where you there at that time to experience that terrible dream i experienced it i can't deny that and are you there here right now to experience this even though it's false he says yes i can't deny that i'm experiencing it so then neither that is true nor this is true you are the truth you means that experiencing consciousness that awareness that is that only truth here now now yes such nerve was such okay so i've told this story many times now your assignment is to see which part of it is superimposition and which part of us is the superimposition it's not just the dream the dream and the waking all of it is superimposition the idea that i am an emperor i have i rule a kingdom i am the dream that i had lost the empire and i was defeated all the whole thing including the body including the thoughts in the mind everything is a superimposition and what is the discipline superimposition this when the sage tells him that neither that was true nor this is true but what is the truth where is the rope the you are the consciousness to which all of this appeared all of this appeared and disappeared all of it is an appearance in consciousness and this consciousness alone is real which which is the one which experiences all of it now this is the super imposition exactly like not knowing the rope that is like following janaka falling asleep and then experiencing a snake that's like janaka dreaming or even his waking so experiencing a snake and then correcting the error seeing it's not a snake it's a rope that's like experiencing it's not neither the waking nor the dreaming none of them are real it's the consciousness which which into in which all of these appear and disappear that one is real that is d d superimposition so notice this whole story same method is applied as he says here all teaching is done by this method another story um you remember the story of the tenth man i've often used it so now your assignment is to see track where is superimposition where is the superimposition you know 10 people crossed a river and then they thought well my friend has done some have we all crossed or did somebody drown they counted they found nine and um they thought that one person has drowned they were crying and then a wise person tells them why are you crying and they say that our friend is drowned the vice person says your friend is there don't worry how i'll show you count again so one of them counted one two three four five six seven eight nine and the wise person said you are the tenth and they realized oh one two three four five six seven eight nine ten ah the tenth person has been found what joy now what was the super imposition here the superimposition was not first of all ignorance is at the root of superimposition not everywhere not seeing the snake and not seeing the rope that's the first one similarly not knowing um that i'm dreaming for example so i've fallen asleep not knowing the waking state for example that's the cause of superimposition of a dream uh here not knowing that the tenth person is alive that's the cause ignorance of the existence of the tenth person then what is the superimposition tenth person has drowned and it's terrible and we are all going to weep and wave what is the d superimposition dawah the tenth thou art the tenth and they suddenly realize 10th person is here there is no cause for uh sorrow you remember the beautiful story of the princes of kashi yeah so i will not repeat all the stories it'll become story time in fact i have a good mind to do a talk with only stories so just this series of stories and then work out the the vedanta the the advaithic philosophy carefully woven into these stories um in fact the tenth man story panchodashi uh the rna uses this tenth man to tenth man story to delineate seven stages of spiritual life from ignorance and bondage up to freedom and attainment of liberation everything so many stages just through this story um princess of kashi princess of karso people are saying yes to story session yes the princess of kashi you know that the person the prince thought that um there's this princess whose painting he saw and thought i will marry this princess and if i don't marry the princess i'll be unhappy and finally it was revealed to him that it was his painting done when he was a little kid totally forgotten about it so there is no princess apart from him he is the only reality so superimposition that there is a princess of kashi and she is beautiful and i am in love with the princess of kashi and i am going to marry the princess of kashi all of its superimposition and the consequent sorrow the superimposition pointing out that thou art or prince you as a child you are painted in this way there is no princess of kash apart from you in another way the princess of kashi was never separate from you you alone appear in that form that is the supreme position okay at no point notice nothing at no point had anything really happened in each of these stories at no point had anything really happened but it seemed to be a total disaster terrible thing and it is solved by knowledge knowledge of what knowledge of the underlying reality knowledge of the rope solves the illusion of the snake knowledge of of one's own of the waking solves the illusion of dreaming knowledge of the painting that i am the one who was painted solves the illusion of the existing separate existence of princess of kashi so on similarly now applying it to our case knowledge that you are brahmana solves this world illusion that i am a body and mind i inhabit a physical material universe in which i'm struggling tomorrow i may die and there is so much sorrow and suffering all of this material this illusion is corrected by the knowledge that i am this pure is consciousness i like the term this being awareness unlimited being awareness and is-ness awareness this is the method of superimposition d superimposition all vedanta is this now this gives you a new lens to look at upanishads to look at vedanta text and see how adhero papavada is playing out what will this book do now i can tell you just in a couple of sentences what's going to happen for the rest of this book first of all he's going to say look there is this ultimate reality brahman and then he will introduce maya and because of maya brahman appears as the five elements and through five elements they get mixed and there's a process in which the material world appears the subtle world appears you know bodies and minds all of these are created and so comes the individual sentient being propelled by the individual sentient beings karma and ignorance life starts life after life goes on cycle and it's a beginningless and endless thing it goes on it will come to a really an end only upon knowledge knowledge of what then starts the next part that upper vada the negation the superimposition how do you do that by the teaching of vedanta it will show you how and it will end that's the whole story the whole story you must understand this there are many implications of this it is a method don't forget that so when when when they um i'll tell you one very interesting implication with regard to modern science so when when you will see they'll talk about how fire and water and space and all this emerge from brahman covered by maya and from that from the five elements emerge this world so very old ancient cosmology which they have entirely advaita vedanta notice is entirely borrowed from sankhya and it's mentioned in upanishads also interestingly some places it is mentioned five elements came out of brahman and from that the entire universe is created in chandoo panisha three elements are mentioned now um at some place shankara talks about takes up this issue why i think in brahma-sutras probably so which is right did five elements come out of brahman and make this entire universe or did three elements come out shankara says that's not the point don't forget what's going on it's a method of enlightening you the upanishads vedanta is not interested in three elements or five elements after all what's the truth nothing really came out whether the brahman alone exists now this is a way of untying the donkey shankara does not say that i'm saying it so it does not matter whether the rope has to be untied in this way or the rope has to be untied in that way there's no rope whatever works to show you the truth that is welcome that's why that's why it's crucial that's why vedanta is compatible with science vedanta does not make claims in competition with with science with physics or with chemistry or biology no you can knock out this entire cosmology but whatever is being said now what we will see these are all based remember it's written 700 years ago this is all based on the upanishads you can knock this entire thing out and you can plug in modern science only your way back to brahman will be a little obscure because of modern science but it doesn't matter and what i'm saying is in principle shankara and the non-dualist will have no objection because they are not taking this to be a real universe at all science uh investigates this appearance and the appearance of the universe and finds out laws and regularities which are all there maya maya is basically law regularity maya means the measurable that which is measurable literally science so all within the realm of science advaita vedanta has no conflict somebody you know they say that science produ proceeds by testable falsifiable claims so one way that a scientist might judge something is tell me an experiment to falsify that claim by what um experiment will i be able to see whether your claim is true or false and if something is not falsifiable it's not a scientific statement but that's how people take it and they get worried the advaithic claim that there is pure being is not a falsifiable thing i mean it's how would you even test it so that that criterion does not apply to this this is the most fundamental question of of philosophy of our existence measurability falsifiability these are very good criterion for testing scientific prepositions this is not scientific this is actually much deeper than science i was reading heidegger in his introduction to metaphysics he says this is the greatest and the deepest of all questions where did i mention this yeah so uh high record says that uh this question about why does anything exist at all this question about existence being he says a whole of western philosophy after the greeks nobody ever talked about this they talked about what is in existence and then they discussed substance quality action good bad all of that was discussed fine but why is there anything at all there could be nothing why does this universe why do we anything exist at all why is there existence also so this is the greatest question and this is amazing mundo kopanishad starts with this question the munda kopanesha says the science of vedanta is the first of all sciences of all knowledge and here heidegger thousands of years later he says this question is the first of all questions that question the answer is in the upanishads so the upanishads recognized this several thousand years ago this is the first of all knowledge sarva vidya pratishtha so brahma vidya is the foundation of all of all knowledge of the first of all knowledge why first why first aid beautifully analyzes this this question about existence itself why is it the first rank of questions because he says three things because he says it is the widest of all questions because it is the most profound of all questions and third is he says it's the most fundamental of all questions what is widest profound or divides deepest and most fundamental what does he mean why this means nothing at all is beyond the purview of this question anything that exists is included and if you say what is the limit what is it that this question does not discuss that will be that which does not exist so automatically that is beyond and he's and he even says even that by relation to existence is also included indirectly within this question what exists why does anything exist at all is the widest of questions are you with me here widest of questions after all existence itself then deepest of questions he says all other questions um biology psychology language art chemistry even deeper physics even deeper mathematics but the deepest of all is existence itself so it is the deepest of all questions it goes even beyond the most fundamental of physics and mathematics the deepest alcohol questions and then very subtle point he makes the most fundamental of questions this question about existence itself why is anything there at all he says it's the most fundamental why because it is it is the hallmark of the greatest and most profound question that it questions itself remember the questionnaire i who am asking this question or the question itself why is there anything at all that's also something within the range of existence it's also an entity which exists i the question and i am also an entity which exists the question is also an entity which exists so when the question asks why it is not only questioning questioning everything is also questioning itself so he says the form of this question is why why this is related to the question which we keep having in vedanta discussions why is there maya at all it is the question is of the form why why why means causation when you are asking why why so in this way for these three reasons what a beautiful analysis he says that you he says to begin with you must appreciate the greatest of these questions why it is so great one must appreciate the incredible nature of this question okay heidegger is not a good man to quote because of his association with hitler and the nazis so he is in the bad books of everybody but um those who are in the trade philosophers they will sort of admit in a sort of voice to you that he was the like the matchless philosopher of the 20th century probably the greatest philosopher of 20th century um okay just this text and then we'll take questions this text says just as you superimpose a snake on a rope which is not a snake similarly we are superimposing the unreal our stu that which is not real on the real that means just like the rope is not known as a rope the reality is not known as a reality the snake is not there but it appears the universe is not there but it appears and by implication by an investigation into this very appearance into the snake you will discover the rope the moment you discover the rope you will correct the error it's not a rope it's not a snake not by an investigation of snake itself will you correct it you must discover the rope to correct the error you must discover that brahman u.s brahman to correct the error of you as body mind and this as a material samsara it must be an investigation to find the reality of the ground of error no amount of studying of the snake will you know reading books about snake will will enlighten you you must see what you must find out the rope which is right there notice also something interesting when you are experiencing the so called snake you are actually experiencing the rope you are seeing nothing other than the rope when we are experiencing brahman we are experiencing when we are experiencing the the world the world outside we see hear smell taste touch forms sounds smells tastes touch you know warmth cold heat pressure pain and then we experience thoughts feelings emotions ideas when we are experiencing all of this we are experiencing none other than pure being is-ness awareness what is in between like the snake is maya all of this will be discussed but keep in mind this is the plot i've given away the plot at the very beginning this is what is going to happen for the rest of the book first the first half of the book more than half it will go on to i'll tell you it will go on to text number text number um if you see the book it will go on to text number 136 we are now on text number 30 2 it will go on to 136 what is what is going to go on superimposition error so as we go through complications more and more complicated keep in mind don't take it seriously you've been warned he's going to teach you a whole deal of ancient cosmology how the universe is produced from and then tell you ha fooled you none of that is true and that will start from text number 137 okay let's take questions now my question is more with the preliminaries i think in the previous classes we discussed so in hinduism there's this philosophies like vedanta and sankhya and all that but within the vedanta philosophy there are those schools like less advaitha and advaitha now these are schools within um vedanta but they seem to have different interpretations of the ultimate reality how to approach it so i i keep wondering what's common uh to call them likes within the vedanta philosophy schools of philosophy not separate systems okay so you're right it's not not that they seem to have different interpretation they do have widely different interpretations so one general way of understanding all these schools of vedanta philosophy are advaita vedanta which we are studying and everything else why would you club all those other schools into everything else dwayth vishishta dwaita dwaita these are the major non-advaitic schools why would you club them together you would because there's one character one characteristic of all of them they are all bhakti schools they are all to some extent dualistic and they depend on bhakti for primarily they are not primarily knowledge based approaches which is why swami vivekananda kept them length when he came and taught in the united states in america primarily he mentioned other schools but primarily he would say non-dual vedanta because here he says is a rational religion suited for this age anyway so i'm not going to now tom tom our system but yes now your question is there are multiple systems of indian philosophy sankhya yoga um you know nyaya vaishaishika and many others so why don't we say that these different schools which are quite different from advaita vedanta why don't we say that they are also different schools of philosophy instead of including them under the umbrella of vedanta that's the basic question the question is one of text what are the sources and methods of those schools those schools are also just like advaita vedanta they accept the upanishads as their fund of foundational texts the bhagavad-gita and the brahma-sutras only their interpretations of the upanishad bhagavad-gita and brahma-sutra leads to all these widely different interpretations and different sub-schools of vedanta yeah i was uh thinking about that but then if you see the source books like bhagavad-gita and upanishads let's say the shaitas with rupa nation it has not all texts are truly strictly advaitha text they have devotional things too in those in those books like gita has devotional i mean it it doesn't stick to advaitha all through so um but then we seem to default when we say vedanta in most contexts we seem to default to advaita vedanta but then if you see the vedanta text there is a spread i mean there there seems to be text absolutely absolutely absolutely there are advaithic texts there are non-dualistic texts there are dualistic statements within the upanishads many many they and within the bhagavad-gita and the brahma-sutra also there are dualistic statements there some of the sutras so what the question is how do you deal with these texts so advaita vedanta what shankara does is he gives primacy to advaithic texts and then he shows because those have to be explained advaita vedanta also has to explain the dualistic text within upanishads so what he does is he shows them as supporting so all the so you know the way i teach advaita vedanta or any traditional teacher also will say so what what about bhakti what about you know devotion meditation all those are we to reject them no again and again all those i say that all of those are helpful they're all supporting and they prepare you for non-dual realization look at the qualifications of the aspirant the person must do selfless work the person must do passana meditation then we'll get purity of mind concentration of mind i mentioned all of these earlier then what then then when you go to the open issues and come across a devotional a dualistic text you will say aha here is a text which is helping me to get prepared for non-dualism this is the approach of a non-dualistic interpretation what do the dualists do just the opposite they will dismiss the non-dual and as that it does not really mean non-dualism and they will play up the dualistic statements in the upanishads and bhagavad-gita and say that's the point you can do both then the question remains so what what do we do follow non-dualism be very clear about it and also remember this was the greatness of sri ramakrishna he said that all of these things are possible and they are all paths to enlightenment so is advaita vedanta right can you take the non-dualistic text and make the dualistic text subservient can you take the non-dualistic realization and make it the goal and make all the other dualistic practices secondary can you do that yes you can do that but equally that was ram krsna's point when the dualist comes and says no swing hare rama hare krishna be devoted to krishna that's the point of bhagavad-gita can you do that so ramakrishna would say yes you can do that also thank you a strict advaitha teacher would say no you can do that it's not wrong and that will be helpful but ultimately you must come to non-dual realization otherwise you will not get moksha a strict dualistic would say no only this is the way to liberation by singing the glories of krishna and being devoted to krishna what about non-dualism does that help no it does not help it's totally wrong it's false so this was the approach until um someone like says sudama krishna comes along and says jotomo then would come the question of if that is so then why are you so biased towards advaita vedanta well i am i takes advaita vedanta to be central because of multiple reasons not the least of which is that it is our central tradition that is what we are advaithic monks that's how we were the whole ramakrishna order came up in that way holy mother clearly said uh you are all non-dualists i can say with conviction you are all advaitans that means proponents of the system of advaitha swamiji you get questions themselves act as imaginary ropes for example in the last couple of days i seem to have tied myself into knots over a very specific question about ethics in advaitha and last thought i asked a question about it but i i didn't formulate it well a better question on ethics would be that professor uh ram rambachchan asked at the harvard panel that you were part of yes and i'm quoting him now he said vedanta is ultimately awakening us to a deep peace and joy within but what is the relationship between peace and justice what is the relationship between an inward state of joy and injustice in the world it seems to be relevant to me right now i mean yes america etc the the answer to that is found in vivekananda's interpretation of you know his practical vedanta so on the same advaithic basis this tremendous call for social justice you know he said that the two great sins of india have been the neglect of the masses and the oppression of women and then to serve the one who serves the jiva though that one truly loves god um the service of uh god in in you know the service of the in the sentient being the jiva is the worship of god where is all that coming from shiva gyani jivaseva all of that the entire doctrine of service in in the ramakrishna order it's all based on advaita vedanta it's an extension it's not anything dramatically new but it can be done it's an extension of that that advaithic realization if we are one then how can i treat people uh differently how can i treat you know how can i have privilege how can i grab power how can i discriminate how can i oppress if we are one reality it's only when we are different then you can these things come into play so you can clearly see how advaita vedanta can be extended into the field of ethics very easily um so the link between peace internal peace and joy and justice that's not well put i mean i think um that the link is between the realization of oneness and justice you work it out it's it's a straightforward equation oneness of all existence and just this straightforward equation in fact so to solve the problems outside you have to look inside is what what you're saying the self is notice inside and outside is a false dichotomy that's based on the the skin this body no i'm talking about the empirical world so yeah from an athletic perspective when you make the change there is no insight and outside everything is one reality so not a separate one reality there's a pure land of bliss existence consciousness and that's far away from the misery of this world no that which you see as the snake is the rope that which you see as samsara pull of injustice is brahman that which you see as brahman is the samsara full of injustice so there you have to work it out what is the implication of oneness for injustice it has to be combated what is the implication of oneness for suffering in the world if i am one with that suffering person and i work for removing the suffering of this body i must for equally work for the removing the suffering of that body it advaita gives you the justification of the golden rule treat others as you wish to be treated do not treat others as you do not as you would wish not to be treated that's their the united nations when you enter the gen the general assembly i mean when you enter the u.n headquarters no i think second floor big letters that's the most universal rule of ethics that humanity has found but i can i can question that why why why should i treat others as i wish to be treated if i have if i have power suppose why not oppress others there is no answer in no religion of the world in no system of ethics except i'm making a clear claim here except advaita vedanta there's no answer anywhere else try it and i've seen it being discussed threadbare in uh philosophy classes in at harvard university it's a bottomless pit there's no solid ground anywhere except why at all do we behave that way it's because we are identified with one little body and mind that has to be corrected from from the no from the understanding of oneness of all existence even the intellectual understanding flows clearly all the ethics of the world internal peace and joy like professor ramachan says you can have that if you are a bhakta you are devoted to god and you spend time in thinking about god singing the names of god and lead a decent moral life you will have internal peace and joy how is that related to justice outside not related i will serve somebody might say i will serve they are all children of god so i will serve that is the connection to justice yes but only in your system and you are in your system what happens is they are children of god only when they believe in my religion service justice to members of my religion and for members of other religions you see the terrible problems involved in that kind of thinking only answer show me one one um candidate which can provide which has been able to provide a solid basis for ethics in the world till today 5000 years of civil world civilization nothing so this article written by swami bhajanandaji it's called swami vivekananda's ontological ethics so what how swami vivekananda uses advaita vedanta to provide a foundation for ethics no i think i'm beginning to get it you know um the the separateness is a super imposition that has to be removed yes and and that is the fundamental uh right aspect of it yeah religion cannot do it because the moment you say i don't believe in religion then what happens to the ground of ethics or i can if i say i don't believe in your religion i believe in my religion then what happens to your justification for ethics law cannot do it because if i can break the law and get away from it it's an external locus of ethics i don't have an internal locus virtues cannot do it you know like be a virtuous person why so this is a question of um what is called meta ethics ethics deals with what is right and wrong meta ethics deals with ethics itself that why be ethical for example what is the ultimate reasoning for ethics what is the ultimate ground of ethics here it gives you the greatest possible ground of ethics that we are actually one and this is not dependent on believing it advertises not that you believe in it no you uh you have to see that it's already of an established fact you are invited to see this and then work out ethics from there so swami bhajanandji in this article swami vivekananda's ontological ethics remarkable at article what he does is he about 20 pages or so he takes a survey of all the work done in ethics till now um mostly western theories of ethics ethics utilitarian teleological deontological religious ethics and so and so forth and then shows the defects in each and the defects are well known books and books have been written on that then he comes to sami vivekananda's ontological ethics based on advaita vedanta i think about 10 points he gets there the different dimensions of ethics which flow from advaita vedanta good evening what's the um i have a question is is this um then advisable to sort of get to this point where you ask a question why why and essentially it brings you to the legend there knowledge stops and the real self begins kind of this realization and therefore when any question arises like it's pretty quickly you can get to this yy position and continue just being an observer and in whatever situation there is and whatever question there is in one's intellect all right dmitry's question is no here what you are asked to do is not philosophically inquire and try to solve the question of being like heidiger did rather what you are asked to do is you are provided with that framework now actually what we will do is and inquire into myself into it it's more a phenomenological inquiry this is the correct term phenomenological inquiry means start with experience advaita vedanta the way to do practical advaita vedanta is always to follow your experience what experience any experience whatever we are having right now so when we actually get to the nuts and bolts of it they'll provide us with this whole philosophical framework being maya and the whole problem of why why and then leave it there and then the only solution is not to give a theoretical solution that how a rope appears as a snake no you have to see the rope similarly advaita actually gives you the solution you have to see yourself as brahman that will solve the entire problem what advaita has been claiming till now the structure it is set up that there is a reality and we are in error of that reality advaita will actually accomplish the you know very dramatically it will correct the error actually in fact for us not just set it up as a as a philosophy and leave you with it it will actually correct the error and you will see for yourself that whatever has been shown is is a decent way of describing the state of affairs and i can like i follow this and um so i've listened some lectures that you've recorded on youtube on this and then when i follow this five sheets and it's it's actually very clear i'm not my body i'm not my mind i'm not my thoughts i'm not i and then there is you know this subject that just looks at it all without being entangled uh but at that point is uh kind of it's hard to remain there without being entangled don't worry about it we'll see slowly two things one is actually practically what happens is our preparation of the mind is very important that's what sucks us back into this uh illusion but what advaita vedanta also does is gives us the great clarity it penetrates through that veil of illusion we'll see how it goes we'll see how are you namaste yeah yeah okay so my i'm going to try and formulate my question uh as best as i can it's in terms of the experience sir you often like today you said you are the conscious nest to which all of it appeared one that experiences but in when we often talk of brahman we talk about just the light that illumines or the space where the experience happens so not having that so who's the one that's experiencing if i if i am illusory in terms of the vibharika uh you know um uh reality the but then the ex you often said that you that the experience is true but what you are experiencing is unreal right it's not what it seems it's it's brahman it's not the nam rupa that i experienced but it is actually brahman so where is this experience happening is it just in the right not on the absolute level right there multiple things that i need you need to check here one is i would never say that i am illusory in the viva rec or anything like that you you are not illusory the whole point of advaita vedantity is to say that you in reality what you are as not as the bindu personality but right what you are you are the absolute truth jiva brahma evan opera the jiva the sentient being is actually brahman nothing else so that's the whole point of it so at no point are you supposed to be illusory but yes your your limited individuality is uh as an appearance um and then another thing you said that um so um experience what your experience is faults but the experience is true no i never said the experience is true what i said so this is why you have to listen very carefully what i said was what i always said was you cannot deny that you experienced something that you are looking at the world so for example a snake you cannot deny that you see you saw a snake now what you can deny is that was it a real thing or was it an error you can say that i did see it but what i saw was not really a snake i had an experience of a snake for example the janaka had this dream when he wakes up he can deny that it is real he can say that nothing happened but he wanting he cannot deny that he saw it so that he saw a dream you can after waking up he can call it a dream do you follow it's a subtle difference but a very big difference advaita vedanta um cannot deny what you are seeing hearing smelling tasting right now that i am seeing a world that i am looking like a human personality with a body and mind who can deny it but what advaita vedanta does and what you can question is what you are seeing or experiencing is that real or not if you watch a movie if you watch a movie you see harry potter going to hogwarts school of magic if you see a movie like that now you you can always claim that actually there is no harry potter there is no hogwarts school of magic it's fiction it's a cinema but this you cannot deny that you saw the cinema but you saw the movie that you cannot do that's a fact that we experience a world nobody can deny that but the reality of the things that we experience can be questioned that's what advaita vedanta does yeah i i get that i mean i've heard you several several times i get that but then who who's experiencing if this mind is a reflected consciousness where who is experiencing in the in you are in reality you are but if i i as brahman i'm real right but brahman is is is not there is not the the the quality of brahman has the quality of experiencing is that what we're saying because the way i understand is it from you is it's more like a light it's like a space where things happen where there is no you know how but you say between the ego and there's no no relationship between i and and and pure consciousness it's all i and reflected consciousness have have experience you know have a relation so where is where does this experience take place okay let's answer this um where does uh uh harry potter go to the hogwarts school of magic on the screen no yeah does he is there really a harry potter is there a school and is there any really going to the school no no and yet it looks like that does the screen have a quality of being harry potter and hogwarts school of magic no and yet it looks like that a film critic can write a nice review about it can tell you everything all details about it and yet no not one bit of it is true do you see how brahman being pure being or awareness can yet appear to be a knowing person called bindu and a known world called this world around you the room you're sitting in and knowledge itself i am seeing hearing smelling tasting touching all the while being nothing other than absolute reality or existence only okay yeah um before i go into rupert spera and your talk i would like to know what are they talking about this direct and a progressive way okay just hold it there the talk is coming if you have not signed up if you're interested do sign up for that it's on saturday rupert is a very well known direct path advaitha teacher his talks are famous all over the world so we are going to have a conversation it's going to be non-dualism and non-dualism deeper and deeper nothing else but advaita vedanta now what you have said is it's an inter important point i'll bring it bring it up with rupert in classical advaita vedanta there is no such talk of direct path and progressive path what has happened here in the west is because of the influence originally of the influence of ramana maharshi and one advaita teacher called papaji so a group of uh western spiritual seekers who came to them first to ramana maharshi and to some of ramana mashi's followers including papaji who was oman mushi's follower so they took this teaching it's it's basically the very heart of advaita vedanta the sense of advaith and i am telling you that you are brahman not even using the term brahman using a term like being or presence or awareness and then trying to show you in many ways that you are that and if you begin to get it then to show you that if you really get it you will see that your all your problems are solved what about the rest of it not necessary just sit listen to me ask your questions and try to see what i'm trying to show you that's it this is called uh the direct path or the satsang model satsang model so it has become very popular in some circles especially here in the united states especially on the other coast people here on this coast are all not all that sold on this but in california many people are very interested in this so there are some really good teachers and i do feel many of them some of them at least have genuine insights into this what advaita teaches what about the rest of it we just read an inquiry fourfold qualifications meditation devotion work um you know all of that the whole of the whole panoply of religion so some of these direct path teachers they dismiss it not necessary you're wasting your time just be enlightened and there are so they called it the progressive path the progressive path said that you in the direct path this this what you are trying to do is a kind of delusion you are fooling yourself into thinking that you're enlightened they've got names for it like your spiritual bypassing you're just overlooking your problems you have not solved your problems you're still unhappy you're still struggling so many problems are there in life what are you doing about it just saying that i am enlightened uh it doesn't work if you're honest you will see nothing has really worked so that is their um criticism so where do we stand where do i stand tune in to find out namaste [Music]