Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | May 5th, 2019

[Music] so we have several questions on consciousness first one is from Jonathan M is it true that the difference between ego and witness is that the ego is self Sakshi plus the error of identifying as an individual experiencing a separate phenomenal world samsara whereas Sakshi is self without any such error of individuality and perceiving Samarra as a mere appearance of self and from a shock Dee is consciousness a creation of the brain if not what proof can be given in support of this all right let me take up the second one first but that's a more general question is consciousness a creation or a product of the brain if not what proof can be given in support of that if you're claiming the consciousness is not in fact a product of the brain so let me take that up let me first give you the direct answer from a Vedantic perspective and then we will take up a more general discussion directly if you ask a non dualist an adroit in this question the answer will be very simple indirect the answer is look to your own experience in your experience you will find that you are the experiencer the subject and you experience many things what are the things that you experience you experience an external world objects and people living beings non living beings activities going on in the world you experience your own body also physical so it's a the voice of whole world of physical things which you experience and when we look inward there is a private world which each of us experiences a private world of thoughts feelings emotions ideas the person which we are so this is the entire set the universe of experienced objects they are all objects from a pedantic perspective they are all objects so how would you define an object in a pedantic perspective defining an object is very simple whatever you experience or you can experience is an object it could be something outside it could be a living thing nonliving things to be an action could be speech sound light form taste smell touch it could be something in entirely in your mind your own thoughts feelings ideas memories it could be the presence of all objects like this baking it could be the vague experiences that the entirely private inner experience of dreams or it could be the absence of all the experiences that is also an experience like deep sleep for example the presence and the absence of objects are all experienced by what that which at this moment is the experiencer in itself that is consciousness so the two cannot be the same very clearly you the experiencer and what you experienced the two different things that's the preliminary the first step the first step it's not even up the waiter this is Sankhya the differentiation between the subject and the object and already you will see what we often take to be the subject I myself my body my thoughts my personality they all become what object are you with me or have I left you behind they all become object why simple reason because I experience it therefore it is an object if I experience my own thoughts my own happiness my own misery then my happiness misery thoughts there are also objects to what to me the awareness to me the the consciousness so that which experiences in itself is consciousness often it is mixed up with or created with a group of objects what are these group of objects mind body so normally when we speak and interact in the world we include a few objects into the subject my mind and my body what I call my body and mind this is included as I myself we include it in the subject but it's not the subject why is it not the subject why is it not really I because these are objects there are objects of experience so the subject and the object consciousness and its objects are distinct from an Advaitic perspective Adi Shankaracharya says as distinct as light and darkness as distinct as light and darkness Rama Prakash Awad brutal suave Ryo in India dasa babaji introduction to the brahma sutra Basha Shankar Acharya says the subject and the object consciousness and its objects are as distinct as light and darkness it cannot they cannot be the same they cannot belong to the same category now bring it to bear on this question is consciousness a product of the brain what is the brain is it an object very much it's part of the physical body it's part of the physical body can it be experienced it is being experienced if you see a scan of your brain you are looking at a instrument a readout of your brain when you look at the EEG or the fMRI you are looking at reports from instruments about your brain in indirectly you are making the brain and object of your experience the brain is very much an object to to a doctor the what you call your brain is exact it's just a little bit of living flesh so from an vedantic perspective to say that an object has generated consciousness is ridiculous it is in consciousness it is by consciousness and through consciousness that all objects are experienced that is not to say that the object has nothing to do with the consciousness it could very well be and it is a fact that consciousness works through living bodies and and so including the brains and nervous systems so they are entirely distinct of course advaita vedanta goes further I just mentioned how it goes one step further not only a consciousness and subject entirely - a distinct consciousness is never an object but one step further the objects are not actually distinct from consciousness because look at your experience all objects whatever you are experiencing or can experience are all experienced in you the awareness if they are experienced in you the awareness and only in awareness are they really distinct from awareness Advaita Vedanta says just as this distinction of object and subject actually it holds true in dreams in dreams you are there and you experiencing many things people and places and happenings and yet when you wake up what do you see all of that was in my mind similarly at the weight of olanta says in this waking state it's not that you will wake up and suddenly say all of this was in my mind rather all of this and in my mind all of this is in consciousness right now is not separate from consciousness right now and by the wonderful power of Maya that's what Advaita Vedanta says it is consciousness alone appearing as its own object so what equatable anta does is it first makes a clean distinction between subject and object how from your own experience from logic from experience and then it goes further to reduce the sub the object back into the subject whereas materialistic science look at the question how can you prove that consciousness is not a product of the brain if consciousness you are seeing consciousness you the awareness you are a product of the living matter in your body in the skull then what you are saying is that you the awareness consciousness is a product of object of matter fundamentally you are reducing the subject into object what a great event has done is first it makes a clean distinction between the pure sub and all objects and then reduces the objects back into the subject reduces means not that it pounds all objects back into subjects you just see that it can't be anything apart from you the experiencer but what materialistic science wants to say is that everything must be matter what you think of a spirit or consciousness or mind or whatever whatever you can think of somehow must be a product of matter so from a Vedantic perspective Advaitic perspective this question does not stand clearly because even the brain and the nervous system and the living body are objects to consciousness okay more general discussion this question has been raised recently in in modern science and modern thought couple of decades ago by a young Australian philosopher David Chalmers in fact he became very famous because he raised this question in in a conference it became a revolutionary question if you google it now it's history now it's called the hard problem of consciousness what he said was coming from it from an entirely Western philosophical thought perspective the same conclusion which sank he and Abbeville anta reached thousands of years ago he raised this question that how can a physical entity have an inner life we all have inner lives right we are each of us we are we are something physically present here you are sitting on the chair which is visible to everybody but also you have an inner life going on which is private it feels like something to be you which nobody else can experience you'd say yeah but what's so great about that what's so great about that is this this table or this chair are displayed here it can be completely described it can be completely understood by looking at it and examining its properties objectively you there's nothing more to it does not do well side to it it makes no sense to ask how does this clock feel inside how does it feel like to be a clock what does it feel like to be a clock no there's no such thing no the question has no meaning you might say how do you know the clock might be conscious inside but it's there's no point saying this because we have no evidence to show that there is it does not demonstrate or show any possibility of having an inner life a physical entity this is a complex entity a clock you're a physical entity like this clock or in Valentich terms an object has no inner life all you can see of it is all it is the more you examine it objectively with microscopes and electron microscopes are not it will reveal more and more of its objective nature there is nothing subjective about this nothing inert to it there is nothing like what it is like to be a clock but there is certainly like what is it like to be you you feel something inside how can a physical now this is the hard problem of consciousness how can a physical entity just like this clock a physical entity the brain and the nervous system in the living body have a dual nature physical nature and also inner subjective nature objective nature and inner subject image of how and this question has taken on more relevance today when you are generating but you are developing artificial intelligence computers which can mimic all our activities they can talk they can interact with you they can do all kinds of jobs they are intelligent because they perform intelligent tasks but are they aware inside even the best engineers of Google IBM and all nobody will say that my product my machine has inner awareness no it's just a machine functioning with algorithms it's there and it can mimic all our activities you even we have gone so far as to demonstrate intelligence may not require consciousness somebody put it now they are beginning to understand in the age of intelligent machines we are beginning to understand you don't have to be intelligent you don't have to be intelligent to suffer an animal a frog or a little dog out there dogs are pretty intelligent but say a frog or a lizard or something it suffers when it's hurt and it's dying it suffers it's not particularly intelligent your computers today in the artificial intelligence machines are more intelligent than that little creature in some ways can do enormous tasks which that little creature cannot even imagine and yet that creature can suffer but the computer cannot suffer the idea of suffering of pain includes consciousness first-person experience there must be a inner feeling of pleasure of pain which a computer cannot experience so an objective machine an object something which is matter entirely can perform many of the activities of conscious beings yet without being conscious and we are conscious how I regard this question as one of the most important questions of our time the hard problem of consciousness though it was asked thousands of years ago for the first time it is making a comeback in this age when science has progressed so much we are now beginning to ask this most important of questions and there are multiple answers to it so I was very happy to see David Chalmers who became famous because of this one question he asked I was so happy to see that here he is here in New York he is the head of the mind brain consciousness unit in New York University and recently I met with him and I said see there are two important questions in modern thought in modern Western thought from a pedantic perspective Martin Heidegger was one of the greatest philosophers to 20th century his name is mud now because he got mixed up with the Nazis but that does not detract from the fact that he was a brilliant philosopher he asked the question what is existence being and now you are asking the question what is consciousness from a Vedantic perspective these are the two questions about sucked and chit questions have been asked answers a very far away in modern thought but I'm very glad these questions have been asked today what is existence itself Heidegger what is really consciousness Chalmers of course I think he blushed if I am and I compared him to a Heidegger but but it's true it's it's a these are fundamental questions it was just the other day we were at the Institute of Advanced Studies professor joy is here who gave us a very beautiful tour Swami at Capri and she had come and that's where Einstein worked Oppenheimer von Neumann gödel could Goddard they're one of the top faculty members there is ed Witten as a physicist I mean Google if you google him it describes him as the smartest man alive today something like Google are like Internet will but it is compared to the closest thing we have got to Einstein today now why I'm bringing this up is there's a short interview with him about consciousness of a surprise because that's not his field his field is string theory but he's obviously a tremendously intelligent person very perceptive now he was asked suddenly about consciousness and there's a fight if you google ed Witten consciousness you'll find it on YouTube just five minutes and he gives a very perceptive answer he says as we go on studying the brain see I have not forgotten the question coming back to the question as we go on studying the brain we will learn more and more about the brain but I think consciousness will remain a mystery it's what admittin says it's not to say consciousness is not associated with the brain and nervous system which not produced by the brain and nervous system if what is david chalmers theory he says consciousness is all pervasive it could be he says it could be he calls it a crazy idea so it could be that consciousness is all pervasive and it works through a brain it brought works through a brain and nervous system and that's why it seems that it is being produced by the brain all of you came in through that door like if I didn't know what you were I would say that the door is a fantastic thing it produced so many people it produces all these people and it absorbs all these people they arise from the door and they disappear back into the door Oh almighty door no the door has almost nothing to do with you it's just been shaped in such a way which allows you in and out all right now going back to the first question now it's it's pretty easy he says witness consciousness and the ego witness consciousness and the ego these are very precisely defined terms in Vedanta ego is called a hunk our abdomen at Mecca and Tucker elaborate tea that which says aye aye aye what is that look inside you I I am sitting I am talking I'm walking I am happy I'm unhappy I'm spiritual I'm not spiritual aye-aye-aye this is a function of the mind this is nothing more than a function of the mind and remember according to Vedanta even the mind subject or object should be confident do you experience your own mind can you experience your own mind yes look inside you'll find if you can experience it it's an object then the ego a function of the mind is it a subject or object object this is the this is the the hammer-blow of Vedanta stunning insight what everybody accepts as the subject all throughout philosophy literature everywhere what is I the subject Vedanta says the I which is experienced as the ego the experienced I very careful experienced I is an object it's simply a function of the mind an object to what an object to the witness consciousness Sakshi an object to the Atman to you the awareness you shine upon the mind and the mind functions in these ways a hunk our ego cheetah memory - the cogitating aspect of the mind Budi intellect these are various aspects of the same instrument an object it's an instrument including the ego that's why Shankar Acharya sings mono Bodhi ahankaara cheat on ena I am NOT the mind and not the intellect I am NOT the memory I'm not the ego literally if you translate in English it will become I am NOT I it sounds contradictory but if you look at in here in your experience it's not contradicted it's a matter of common explain everybody experiences it all the time we don't pay attention to that experience so yes the Sakshi and the ego are different the ego is a function of the mind I remember what what the question was but I'm saying that I am asking you to rephrase the question in this way the ego being an object cannot be the witness consciousness the witness consciousness identifies itself with the ego or the ego identifies itself with the witness consciousness and together we don't distinguish it together we say I but it is always different the ego comes and go goes do you disappear when the ego disappears no in deep sleep no ego have you disappeared that might be confusing question but sometimes within a waking state when you are hard at work fully concentrated playing a game of tennis or table tennis or something or a doctor performing an operation or you are absorbed in your research in a laboratory or when you're in your office you forget the I sense in fact anybody who's a musician you know that if you're self-conscious you can't play properly when you're really playing well we need but we're giving a wonderful performance you are not self-conscious the I I am playing this thought has to disappear that that's called flow in music so this I sense comes and goes it's not permanent if are you do you come and go when you are playing tennis and there's no sense of I you're just absorbed in it or you are playing your guitar you know zips absorbed in it the eye is not is not functional it's not there the ego is not there if you are in flow will you say you are not there than whose plane you are there in fact you are more alert than you did usually that's a very fulfilling experience the experience of flow when everything is going perfectly that experience of flow is most fulfilling experience more fulfilling than egotistic experiences so Susan Blackmore who as an expert on consciousness studies who wrote the Oxford very short introduction to consciousness I think sue Blackmore she compares this ego the ego subject to a light in a refrigerator when you open the door the light is on when you close it is the light on or off the moment you try to check it's Hannukah it's like that it's like the ego is like that consciousness is ever-present alright I think we should move on to the we have one more question from yes yes go ahead Devon shoo s there is a concept of a Java vada non-being of this universe and in the lecture on Vidya Vedanta I am Maharaj said that if this universe exists then this universe must be Brahman itself can you please clarify all right our last equation is a heavy one go on I you sheep be are we one or are we the ones with the same originality / characteristics two people in the same situation choose to respond differently why are there different responses when the reality is that we both are the same consciousness if we all are one then why do we face the effect of our actions on karma individually am i individually responsible for my actions or is it I the supreme reality that is predestined to act this way I think I'll take that one is much easier are we one or many if we are Vedanta seems to say we are one consciousness and yet people react so differently and the same circumstances so why is this difference amongst us if we are one the answer is not very difficult to give if you keep in mind the clear division which I spoke about you are the pure subject consciousness right now and then on top of that are associated that which comes one layer of the mind by mind I'm using a broad term mind intellect memory the entire personality that comes over consciousness like light shining through the stained glass window light is like consciousness stained glass window is like the yarn personality now when you look at it from the other side from inside you will see the light takes on the color of the stained glass window isn't it so the mind with its particular with his peculiarities that is different from person to person clearly it's different bodies are different clearly you can count them you can see they're different they look different there they are different minds are also different each mind has its own peculiarity its own conditioning but the consciousness which shine through all of them is one and the same at the level of consciousness we are one but the moment that consciousness becomes limited by separate minds the it appears to be separate it functions as if separate and it interacts with each other now you can speak about each other same consciousness now each other through different bodies and minds now it's very easy to explain why different people react in different ways in different circumstances different minds right now are we very different from each other as minds and bodies yes imagine your experience in deep sleep in deep sleep when there is no experience of the body when there is no experience of the mind under the influence of sleep no doubt how much difference is there between your deep sleep and your friends deep sleep and your husbands or wives and parents and children how much difference none your deep sleep and your worst enemies deep sleep how much difference how much animated nothing how much is the difference between our deep sleep and the deep sleep of an animal they also have deep sleep deep sleep of an ant how much difference none let me say do ants sleep I was also surprised I saw a paper or many years ago an SAP sleep also we sleep we have two kinds of sleep where it's called rapid eye movement sleep sleep REM sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep REM sleep and non REM sleep ants have rapid antennae movement sleep REM sleep and non REM sleep if you google it you will find it very interesting they have Micro sleeps where they walk in this suddenly they stop and the antennas vibrating the sleeping actually and their death so maybe they're dreaming also little ant dreams and then that dream also stops non REM sleep non internal movements rapid internal movement sleep whatever but at that time an ant is not an ant a human being is not a human being we are just consciousness enveloped in darkness so difference is in mind difference difference is in the dress that we put on difference is in the minds in the bodies as in our real nature what we truly are no difference we are one and the same now going back to the earlier question that's a heavy one the question was and that according to go Rapada in the Manduca carica the universe is non existent brahman alone exists this is called non origination Raja Towada the universe was never born and then he mentions ayan Mirage I much came and gave a talk here so he listened very carefully try and what he says I know in Margie's conception which talks about began evade and tough Sri Ramakrishna the universe itself is Brahman can you explain the tomb how can you see the universe does not exist and then you can see the universe itself is brahmana Brahma itself is the universe actually the two are the same the two are the same what does it mean they're exactly the same it's like this first of all let's understand in a very simple way what does it mean that the universe is not born here is the universe how can you say the universe was not created you can say the universe was created from God from Brahman whatever you can say that universe is created from a Big Bang but not at all created how can you say that that sounds crazy he'll be seeing it you're living here in fact Brahman is a quest big question mark for us the universe is it's like this take the classic example of the clay pot we think it's a pot what Vedanta says no no no there is something called clay which is the cause of this pot causes a philosophical term which it means the pot was created from the clay see okay I can accept that so there is a clay and there is pot and the pot was created from the clay remember step one pot pot only like us we say universe only what is this Brahman question mark this person says they don't part please theoretical what is really I don't know it's question mark then it is introduced that no clay is the source from which the part was born it's a material at widget up out of which the part was created okay we begin to understand then in the third step we start investigating where is clay where is Brahman and we are told look at the part itself look at the product you will find the calls the material there in the product the product is the part when we examine the product outside clay inside click bottom click topically it's clay through and through so there itself pervading the entire product entire part is this clay in fact in the stage four we will go and say there is no such thing called part there is only clay thought is a name is an appearance a shape and I use a transaction nama Rupa viajar super imposed on the original clay the clay alone is the reality the way you can say we may wait a minute can't we see now there are two there is the pot which is real and there is the clay I understand now what is the clay clay is also real part is also real no you have to be we have to be very philosophical here you have to be rootless here what do you mean by real a greater will then ask if there are two reals then show me the two real separately you cannot you can only show me the clay or the clay shaped as a pot you can never show me the pot apart from the clay but you can show me the clay apart from the pot the clay can be a lump of clay the clay can be some other thing a different kind of pot a jar or something so the clay can very well exist without the pot the pot cannot exist without the clay the pot is a dependent existence or goda power would push further and say no pot was ever truly born of clay have you followed so far let me run through the four stages very quickly part stage no question of clay just this is a pot when the idea of clay is introduced to us stage to Clay's the cause part is the effect stage 3 we investigate the part and find that it is clay through and through there is no separate thing called a part the thing the material the reality is clay you say no no but there is a the part what is the part then apart from the clay the part is just a name it's just a form you see yeah but it is a form right it be careful when you're saying it is can you attach easiness to a form no because if you take the clay away what will happen to the form disappear it cannot hang in the air it exists depending on the clay the clay does not depend on the from the form firms come and go clay is the same so name form and use is part but entirely dependent on the clay and the stage for we realize there is no such thing called pot which was ever created from the clay it is still the same clay are you with me and applied to the world now goroh Potter says look at such pure being this entire universe names farms and existent all the things that exist there is something called pure being sucked on which all of this is superimposed and when you investigate this right here and right now you find everywhere existence you see where where everywhere don't you feel things exist simplest fact the things exist are they are things everything is and that is Ness pervades everything and all the things that we experience they have no existence apart from that isness in fact from that isness nothing no other thing was born if anything is born from isness apart from isness other than isness not is that's massacring the English language but it means does not exist apart from existence non-existence there is no universe which was born from Brahman a jar towada not non origination just as the clay alone exists with a new name and a new form and a new use Brahman alone is the only reality with many names many forms many uses names forms and uses come and go transactions come and go Brahman remains the same this is the meaning of jihad now when Sri Ramakrishna says everything is Brahman or everything is my divine mother you immediately say it's exactly the same thing do you see it's exactly the same thing every bit of this one teacher put it very beautifully in India he said in the Himalayas Joe cotton huzzah huzzah bar food in Hindi Brahman is exactly what it was before creation during creation after creation before the universe during the universe after the universe and the praised has our food is a colloquial Hindi phrase which means packed tight this universe is packed tight with Brahman they say there is not the slightest space in Brahma this way of putting it very colloquial way of putting it there is not the slightest space in Brahman where you could fit in a universe there's no space in Brahman for even one blade of grass Brahman is his packed solid it's like one teacher said it's like a vast rock rock it's good to hear such examples because the way it's normally taught is Brahman is so subtle that we reduce it to an idea an abstraction or concept no no it's just the opposite it is as real as reality itself it is reality itself other than it there is nothing in reality there is not the slightest sliver of space light space for for an appearance to exist all that the universe then is why does it appear to be other than Brahman it depends on Brahman Braman itself appears as this universe to the ignorant what is the world to the enlightened that itself is the absolute now we understand the great Buddhist Shu Nevada Nagarjuna when he says samsara and Nirvana are exactly the same don't misunderstand if you mean don't misunderstand terrible problem you think that oh this is the only thing there is no no no no no there is Nirvana here there is moksha here there is the absolute here and you have to realize that but we're not there here not then now yeah right do you have okay so the lady there please come tell us your name and ask the question namaskaram tom is he my name is Rebecca and I have listened to many of your lectures especially the trick Trisha Vivek many times and other swamiji is also on net and by the grace of my guru I think I can say that sometimes I do see I do see that I the radical doesn't exist right that may the grace of my guru I can hear that like now when I look at your trick Trisha Vivek with yours or anything that you say I can hear it it's like my years have opened but so when I'm in that state right the only thing I want to do is volunteer just so much gratitude and there's nothing to do just volunteer and in one of your recent I think question answer sessions he had said that it's good to just immerse yourselves in more sadhana and volunteer said unselfish actions at that point so I was a dude I was already doing that but what happens is I get too involved right there is like my have to voice 9 and 11 but when I am there I know they're being taken care of by the universe they are because nothing but then some situation arises like I have immersed myself too much into this and they say something or you know the spouse is something and it's like it's a fraction of a second thought that okay so if I am not fulfilling this responsibility like they are the first project I produce them so so how can I not do that and if I do this then that snaps me out of it so you like you're saying play and the part and I'm like oh my god the part is cracking you know what is it my responsibility or not or should I just continue so now say if I come to this side that okay maybe I should just volunteer here in this side right and just be a volunteer here then of course then the whole attachment comes not just to them then I don't first thought that comes to me is we have to go back to India because I came here I realized the greatness of India only after coming here and listening to people like you but now when I go back there I'm like okay India is the greatest place to race I mean is I'm so pulled by it so this is the two places the question is now I'm here but when I'm there I I know I should not be here in fact when I'm there I I think something should happen that I should never go there right but now I'm here and right I I and I think I understand the question now what you said is very good that we get an insight into this into the reality within and within everything and that reality is always there now the demands of the world seem to pull us this way and that way when you say that once I understand that reality is a great desire to volunteer to this is called Sara and that's very good once we realize that I have really nothing more to want from this world I am ever fulfilled then what do I do with this body in mind one thing could be to I remain immersed in the that quietness in the Bliss of that another could be I pour myself out in service that feeling comes and that's a very good feeling that shows the genuineness of the breakthrough but remember the person the radical mind is still alive so it plays its little mischief sometimes so when it says that oh I am agna glaring this duty and doing that Duty whose duty is it radical duty or Brahmins duty you as Brahmin you have really no duty at all as this person you are in a particular situation and that situation has certain demands that you will fulfill that just go on fulfilling for you serving to helping in the family in your job and in the larger community for you it is the same thing right you will from this perspective we will never neglect your duties or responsibilities it will be taken care of don't worry about it your first duty is not the service outside is not even the work that you do in that home or in the job your first and only duty is to remain centered in what you have found everything else will flow from that everything will be taken care of it's not and then this problem of immigrants means that I hear it all the time so next year we'll go back to India and the our children some the second generation Indians in those who grow grow up here they have told me that there is nothing more terrifying than we hear about moms and dads think saying oh well maybe next year we'll go back to India and we go like no we are we don't know in the European Americans you have been brought in here yes sir now in today's world it's a world of this tremendous movement across borders and people born in one one country working in another country living in a third country so where is home I was listening to Pico Iyer recently giving a talk at the New York Public Library so he says that clearly if you look at me I'm an Indian but I've never lived in India I was educated in England it always felt like an outsider I work in the United States you used to work in in New York and he says for the last 25 or 30 years I live in Japan when nobody ever does or ever will consider me Japanese so where is home for me and he was joking he written his written a book about I think it's called autumn light written a book about Japan this was launching the book but he the question is related to you where is home for me he says when I do live there the kids in the neighborhood he said they have given me a name in Japanese and he said he told us the word he says my Japanese is still at at the kindergarten level but I understood that word they see my wife going out and working so hard morning to evening and because he's a writer he mostly stays at home and he writes but the kids don't know that so they have named him the Japanese word for parasite that's already sweet but now the point is for his conclusion which I liked very well he says ultimately home for most of us is a spiritual home home is not United States India China Japan home is inside home is Brahman is the reality which we are that's really home be settled there be calm there relaxed there and wherever the winds of karma take you this country on the next country or somewhere else where you are today your children will be elsewhere tomorrow grandchildren will be some other place this is the world we live in that's all right be centered in the spiritual reality with him yes I think we should take a look at some I'll come back to you Internet questions somebody else had raised a hand here yes I'll come to you next some practical Vedanta questions yes from samaya bharata h how is it possible to attain god remaining in this world having a wife and children from Deepa r is it the duty of every spiritual seeker to set out in search of a guru who will initiate him or her with a mantra or or should he or she wait for guru to come into his or her life once he or she reaches the right level of maturity and from laura's M is it possible to become enlightened without initiation or is it absolutely necessary all right I see a general question the first one how is it possible to become enlightened in this world realized God in this world with wife and children when usually it's the fault of the wife and children the other way around the wife could say how can I become enlightened with with the husband and children and the children could say how can I become enlightened with parents around all of them are wrong it's not the fault of the other person at all remember spirituality is possible here and now and it is meant for everybody in the world it is when it's like saying how can I take a bath in the ocean there are so many waves let it come down then I'll take a bath no you cannot it'll never happen how can I go near the fire I feel so cold the fire is so warm let it let me become a little warm first and I can go near the fire I'm not worthy that's so silly if you're feeling cold you need to go to the file immediately directly if you feel the need for spirituality you have to start here and now right now look at the Arjuna and Krishna what what ashram was the Gita taught in which way ran to society nowhere in the battlefield of life not in the mountains in the plains of India and the battlefield of life Arjuna did not ask for spiritual advice he asked a practical ethical question related to his immediate problem Arjun problem and Krishna gave him Vera a veil antha talk second chapter of Gita when Arjuna asked him up what should I do it's a immediate trip and present an urgent problem and Krishna goes to the highest metaphysics Brahman alone exists the non-real never becomes a real the real never becomes the non real and now Soto with deity paranoia and so and so forth because that is the direct answer that is most applicable to a generous question and of course then he it goes to the top of the roof but in let's down the ladder and the escalator and the staircase so that you can climb up there are practical steps up there but that is the solution we are like people the psychology behind the question is for philosophers and monks and pundits all right you are do you don't have so many things to do in the world it's like saying you're in a dream suppose you don't know you are in a dream and somebody comes to you you're in a dream you need to wake up don't bother me with metaphysics I have so many things to do I have to go shopping I have to get ready for that put drop the kids off at school then I have to go to office and there's this deadline waiting for me and I hear there is a jam on the subway all of it is in a dream the solution to all the problems is not individually severally take up one problem by one somebody to do the shopping somebody to drop up the kid somebody to go to office and meet the deadline that is not the solution to the problems what is the solution to wake up but if you say no no that sounds too metaphysical that's too theoretical it's not theoretical it's the only solution if you don't like that solution if you resist that solution then they will give you other solutions yes go and drop up the kids but do it as a service to the Lord and be a little detached there slowly disentangling you from what you are entangled with so it's right here spirituality is possible right here right now Swami Vivekananda and his talks and practical Vedanta he says that Vedanta was first and foremost action Vedanta was first and foremost life then only it becomes philosophy and and religion who was it taught by by warriors like Krishna whom was it taught to two kings and princes like Arjuna to Rama Valmiki the sage vasishta the sage is teaching Rama about the highest non-duality why is it teaching non-duality to Rama because Rama wanted to become spiritual his idea of spirituality is going away leaving the kingdom and Rama's father is not afraid and he goes to the sage vasishta please convince him he wants to become a monk and leave the kingdom behind Vashta comes and to convince Rama what does he teach the highest non-duality see it's only when you teach Nandu right here right now this thing becomes spiritual if you teach duality what happens is that is spiritual this is not spiritual I will leave this behind and go there I will wait this is not spiritual I will wait for death to come after that after I will go there so spirituality is here right here right now for people in the world if you have awaken to the need for spirituality or bless it now a specific question about the guru what is the need for a guru now I have studied I have understood why should I listen to anybody else there is a there is a trick of the mind here especially in today's world I depend upon my own thinking good so far as it goes good you should depend upon your own thinking but there's a limit to that also and after some time it becomes foolishness why when I say I depend upon my own thinking why should I depend upon your thinking it's saying that this brain the thoughts in this brain are better than the thoughts in all other brains why it's big ego I am attached to this one so somehow this is better but it's not true if you are really detached you would see there are so many minds and so many minds have produced so many wonderful thoughts let me take the best so the Guru is the embodiment of the spiritual traditions at least some particular tradition in your tradition the embodiment of ancient spiritual traditions in India these are called param para that means a lineage and so in that param para the embodied spiritual traditions of generations of centuries of millennia are embodied in your guru so take that wisdom and you go ahead this question never really occurred to me is a guru really necessary for spiritual practice for a god realization because I felt God realization is necessary enlightenment is necessary and whatever helps me is good and welcome so a major step towards that is a guru guru and the teachings a mantra a particular method of practice commit to it it's good to search five years but 1020 years I'm still backpacking in the Himalayas looking for a guru if something is going wrong what the mind is playing a trick is telling me these gurus are okay but they are not like Ramakrishna how do you like Vivekananda it's a trick of the mind it's preventing you from starting your spiritual journey sri ramakrishna gives a very nice example he says to the truly thirsty person even water covered with you know scum this kind of plant which covers the lakes in rural Bengal even that water he will sweep that that the water plants aside with his hand and plunge his face into the water and drink the water beneath because he's tremendously thirsty he's not worried about whether the water is clean enough or not and if a person who's not thirsty Swiss Alpine water so go ahead if you are interested in spiritual life definitely you must search and today it's a wide-open it's a supermarket of spirituality out there see see what you'd like if you have a tradition follow that if you have no particular tradition you're pulled towards then look and see remember it's ultimately I will tell you something it's not really you who are choosing it's your karma which has chosen for you or if your devotee it's by God's grace you are pulled to a particular tradition you pull there larger forces are at work behind us we think we have chosen fine you choose but choose and start yes one more question and then I'll come to you sometimes when I am reflecting on certain actions of mine like turning down earning extra money or choosing not to indulge in a relationship I can't differentiate whether they were an act of dispassion or I was just being lazy in our day to day life how do you tell the difference between varaha and Tamas and from a shaman are by following the spiritual path we ensure that we don't hurt others by any means at the same time how do we protect ourselves from others wrong thoughts and acts are we becoming vulnerable to today's harsh society while following a spiritual path right so these are practical questions of spiritual life question one the many opportunities keep coming up in life should I take them should I not take them because if I take up these opportunities it's an investment of time and energy if I don't take them up am i making an excuse the mind will tell you that you're making an excuse to be lazy should have taken that up you could have gotten more money and so better experiences and better vacation so many things are open to you now here is where a clear aim in life is important if you do not have a clear aim in life a goal in life your mind will trick you will prey on you moment to moment if my goal in life is to realize God this is my goal in life God is my ultimate goal in life enlightenment is my ultimate goal in life immediately you will see this goal in life makes decision-making very easy then what about money yes I will prosper in the world do well in my profession but that secondary as much as can be done I will do it's not a huge question if I miss a couple of opportunities no big deal because it's not directly related to my my ultimate goal of God realization if I get those opportunities and do well well and good but suppose it's an opportunity which makes me you know I have to do something illegal I'll get a lot of money I have to do something morale and get a lot of money what is my goal to become enlightened to become a spiritual person clear decision no it has nothing to do with me it's wrong it's immoral nothing to do with me even if it's moral and allowable is it really attractive to you because ultimately if my goal is enlightenment is a couple of thousand dollars a month more more attractive to you that you have to spend all your life you are your hours and hours you have to put in there and you'll be exhausted at the end of every day is it worth it no no no Salameh krishna woods always say it's nothing wrong in earning more somebody asked him is it wrong to earn more money no but then he added then that money also should be used you know in the he would say in the service of holy people in in in religious issues or body in religious activities and so on it should all flow towards one goal ultimately don't lay live a fractured life I was reading this philosopher 19th century early 19th century philosopher Kierkegaard and he says that ultimately everything should be edifying everything should build up him what a powerful first opening statement first opening prayer I was so thrilled to see that he starts with a prayer a little like a little poem he says Oh Lord grant me dim eyes for all inconsequential things but bright eyes for your truth and I saw what what is the Gita verse we were studying that which is dot night to the unenlightened is like day to the enlightened that which is day to the enlightened is like like night to the unenlightened that which is day to the unenlightened is like night to the onion are enlightened the world with all its attractions fears and temptations and anxieties is like night to the enlightened it's nothing to them its unborn the author and run and the one absolute shining everywhere through all purse and beings and actions in every experience that is daytime blazing forth for the enlightened and for the unenlightened sounds cool cool and nice but where is it like night for them so this opening statement and then Kierkegaard goes on he says all the Oh he says all that we study and do in life it must ultimately be for God realization this is anything he says he says the so-called will in course the heroic attitude of the detached scientific attitude and scientifically academically studying this I'm not committed I don't believe in he was a committed Christian so the academician says I don't believe in Christianity I'm studying it and it detached way he says - he says to me it is anything but heroic it's frivolous it's a waste of time so God realization becomes the the purpose the most urgent work in life then you will see all decisions become easy you mind itself will tell you if you do not know where you are going wherever you go will be unsatisfying you get an uber even before you get into it you punch it in this is where I want to go if you get into it you get into the car and the taxi drivers a yellow cab asks you where to and you say I don't know just keep going wherever you're going no you never do that you don't do that in a yellow cab but you're doing that in your life that's why these questions come up that's why these questions come up there's a story of a man galloping on a horse through a village in India very seriously he's on the horse and it's charging through the narrow lanes of the village on the horse and a poor man standing on by the roadside in the ask sir where are you off to and this man with very serious expression looks back at him as he gallops off into the horizon says I don't know ask the horse we have mounted the horse of life and galloping off into the sunset but we don't know where we are going that's why these questions come up yes what was the second question by following the spiritual path we ensure that we don't hurt others by any means at the same time how do we protect ourselves from others wrong thoughts and acts are we becoming vulnerable to today's harsh society while following a spiritual path right when I'm following a spiritual path remember simple fact you are following a spiritual path what's your job right now and not to become the most inoffensive non hurting person in the world no no your point is to become enlightened that's the job right in front of you right now now whatever helps you in that good if it helps you to be nonviolent good but if you find there are people who are disturbing you in spirituality you'll notice one thing about Saints they are not particularly saintly if you disturb them in your in their prayer and meditation no no no they are very conscious about that see Rama Sri Ramakrishna used to say when you step on the tail of a Cobra it'll immediately flare up but what is the tail of a spiritual person when that that God spirituality I am my meditation and prayer my connection with God that is most important the rest is of no account there are beautiful verses a rainy day like the today rainy day is not a rainy day the day I do not take the name of Hari is a rainy day not English hurry hurry he is Vishnu is the name of God the day I do not remember God that is the bad day not not the day when there is a rainfall or some other misfortune that's nothing to me how does a person come to this attitude clarity about goal in life so what about violence non-violence all of that will fall into place when you realize I have two real Scot and if I am violent and angry it will disturb my spiritual practices so I will not be violent and angry but if I put up with all of this this nonsense and persons somebody's persecuting me somebody's harrassing me and my mind is being disturbed because of that then I have to stand up always common sense common sense common sense so Ramakrishna put it this way Bogg narayan the tiger all our Nara and a lord is everywhere Brahman is everybody in the hearts of all beings dwells Narayana the Lord but he says don't embrace the tiger Narayana because the tiger will embrace you in turn it's a common sense there the story of the ma house and the elephant the boy who heard that every God is everything is walking along the village path and somebody shouts run away run away the mad elephant is charging down the lane and this boy thinks that oho but my guru told me everything is God so the elephant is also called elephant is also narayana and then the elephant comes actually and peel all the villagers have scattered and the mouth the guy on top of the elephant he's saying I can't control it get out of the way no it's narayana an elephant I guess can't believe its beady little eyes so and it picks up this boy and throws him as aside with it his trunk and then charges on the boy loses consciousness and the people from the ashram come looking for him and they take him back to the guru and when he revives the guru said what happened to you but you talk to me everything is God and the elephant came charging and I thought it's God but he'd picked me picked me up and threw me aside hurt me how can God hurt me and then the guru said but the man who told you to get out of its way so why didn't you listen to the mahout Narayana God in the form of mouth or tells you to get get out of the way God in that we have an intellect you have common sense basically from philosophical point of view it is true that you realize bangles are that the bracelet is gold the necklace is gold your tiara is gold you know your earrings are gold that's true once you realize they are all the same material code does that prevent you from putting each ornament in its rightful place so now they are all gold so I'm going to put the bracelet on on my head and the tiara on my wrist no that's crazy you know the reality behind everything but in day to day life you're actually more capable of dealing with life not less capable good yes please come in G first of all I want to thank you for bringing this to the internet world and making it feasible for people like me who have seen you maybe hundreds of videos I've been on the spiritual journey for almost six seven years and learning about Vedanta philosophy actually hit the hammer on the nail for me that brought me to visit here to you so my question is about the individual purpose the reason I'm asking this question is six seven years ago when I came to America after coming from India I got into divorce mental health issues anxiety disorder depression and all sorts of things and that's where the spiritual quest started many different places I went to and eventually I made a choice to leave my job and talking more about mental health issues how spirituality can come and you know fix the anxiety issues and how then eventually I became certified in pranayama and got into some key philosophy so when the non-dual dualism concept comes and wherever you to say that brahman is one and we are experiencing each other for the love of this as an experience for the love of this creation that's why it appears to be as many from one but at the same time there is this mind which has it's alignments and tendencies which pushes you to make some decisions and choices so in this realm of existence how much one's particular choice or tendency which is coming from the past life is definitely playing a role but is it like a role for the bigger purpose or is that really something called an individual purpose all right if I understand your question properly you see we have a set of tendencies from this life from past lives what we call our personality that's the one which we experience as I this person my likes dislikes the makeup of my mind in fact people say then how do I know what was I in past lives what was I like what did I experience you really do not need to know the details you know what you can look at when we look at our present lives we get a very good idea of more or less in general what we might have been in past lives we are the sum total of what we were in the past so there's no need to go back and try to look for details what we who we wear or what we did in the past so this is what we are right now but this is in the mind this is the conditioning of the mind this is called in Sanskrit one word it's called swab however it's a common word in Indian languages we say in Hindi both the chest Wahhabi it's very good nature we say the word nature and swab hava yard literally swab however means your nature on my nature own nature the thing to realize in Vedanta and sank as you said you don't even have to come to a do it you can go to Sankhya thing to realize is this swab Hara is not you you are not your conditioning this swab Hara this my nature whatever I am like this is not me really I the consciousness I am shining through this swab how this swab Hara is like this the painted glass I am like the pure light shining to the painted glass on the other side I become that car light so you the pure consciousness passing to that swab hava in your mind when you appear in that body mind to others you appear as this person the mistake is to think that i am limited by the saab power I have anger issues I am an angry person no you're not that consciousness which is the witness of the calm mind that consciousness also lights up and activates the angry mind that consciousness also is the witness of the guilty mind afterwards peaceful mind angry mind regretful mind all of them come and go in that one consciousness which is not at all touched it's like the pure blue sky which is right there right now though it seems to be full of grey clouds so you are that that's what song he tells you you are the pure consciousness in which prakruti plays so you are free of your Sahaba that's the big thing to realize now even when you realize I'm free of my swap hawa it's still there the person is still there what do I do what you do is now consciously deliberately begin to refine this swab power refine this person from what you have understood by Vedanta or Sankhya it's beginning to reveal to you a vast dimension a peaceful serene dimension of your existence you are unaffected by the clouds now once you know that being centered in that from that perspective start the job of refining and cleaning up the personality when negative emotions arise anger resentment unhappiness replace them I the pure consciousness existence consciousness place I am here and I am in the person of whom I am resenting now and the same one whom to resent from that perspective now I replace the reactions of my little personality so this conscious attempt to change the default settings these default settings have come through many many lifetimes of conditioning unconsciously now that you are you know that you are not it you have a place to stand on which is free of that from that perspective begin to change am I making sense which is better say that he's making sense otherwise we'll go on and on and on that's what happened in the bhagavad-gita you know Arjuna as I have a question and the moment is his question another chapter starts finally Arjuna understood and at the 18th chapter when Krishna says okay did you get it Arjuna she is absolutely clear I remember this long way back I was in school for boys and we were monks there and this boy in the afternoon class afternoon class was in a hot and muggy and a lot of kids would remain in the hostel and would not come to the class sometimes and we had to under be on the watch out who has not come to class who's still sleeping and this by I thought he was not in the class suddenly he comes running and gets into the class I catch it I catch hold of him what happened he said oh I was sleeping there and then then the the Swami the monk there who is a very patient kindly person he woke me up and then and then he started explaining why I should be disciplined and why I should go to class and why I should not sleep oversleep in the afternoon and then I decided it's much better to come and sleep in the class and listen to all of that you're with me that conditioning is the person I like that statement that Enlightenment freedom means being free of the person the person doesn't become free but the person can become a better person when you replace anger with peace when you replace unselfishness you replace selfishness with unselfishness you replace impulsiveness with self-control how can you do that you see it's so easy to replace you know it it is easy when you stand apart from it when you say I am it I am angry I have to calm down very difficult the mind there is a wave of anger in the mind that has to come down much easier so something that leads you to do something in this world like immense pain that I went through since childhood and now in the younger age as well it led me into this direction and then eventually I open up myself left a lot of years like getting money with a high pay lead a highly paid job and stuff is this something which is what you call it as on purpose or is it something which is just you're the instrument of this big divine force and then you're being either case there is a purpose the ultimate purpose is enlightenment and freedom achieving moving towards that that is called spiritual maturity so at one time I thought the height of achievement was to finish my education get a family and get a job and then you expand beyond that maybe I think that no no no not just this I have to be creative have to write a book I have to then something more than that ultimately it Who am I and what is this you realize that that's the point of the whole game realization God realization manifestation of the divinity within having realized that then live light live your life in that light that is the purpose and be careful of the the what's your name me would be careful of the scene in mind that's still there until a person is fully enlightened that person individual mind is still there it will keep coming with questions like hey you are very highly qualified you should have done that job and being a millionaire on Wall Street by now why did you get into this I'd like know if you follow that disaster what is the disaster you will get into the same track in the same suffering and ten years later you say I shouldn't have done this so maturity go ahead go forward never look back yeah this is all all that was wrong Vivekananda says I am glad that I have made mistakes I am glad that I have done good things I've done glad that I have done bad things they have all gone to make what I am and I go forward in spiritual life very good thank you very good I think we have already we got information that there there already we can we can take five more minutes I think so many hands there was somebody asking quick reason hands there at the this gentleman here please come the reason I'm going on and on about Kierkegaard is there is a meeting of philosophers today they're going to discuss Kierkegaard on the east side today so I've been reading up that so I am a little full of never say Swami my name is Siddharth sudah yes and I've been watching your videos for about a year now and I found them very insightful and it's given me a lot of clarity on a lot of doubts that I had in my life and I had a few questions yeah so I'll try and keep this as brief as possible all right would it be a correct conclusion to assume that the attainment of enlightenment results in liberation and I read this particular chapter in the autobiography of a yogi' which was the resurrection of Sri Yukteswar which I found to be extremely enlightening and it kind of summed up the journey of the soul from the way I you know interpreted it to be so my understanding was that the soul is expected to transcend the physical body the astral body and the causal body before it finally attains final emancipation and we are in this rut of successive life and and death where we keep alternating between the the gross was the physical world and the astral world and when we get enlightenment what scriptures call as moksha is when we finally move on to the astral world and then there is a similar pattern over there between the astral world and the and the causal world before you finally link I understand your question right more or less said what you want not as yet yes yeah now I also happen to read this book called karma and reincarnation by Edgar Cayce who was a very renowned American clairvoyant and psychic in which there were a few people who had come to him where he he mentioned to them in the in the trance state that he was in that there wouldn't be a necessity for them to reincarnate again and they were they're also certain some of my friends in India who have been to astrologers and who have been told that they have what is called as a mukesh Willie which in effect says that there wouldn't be a necessity for you to to be reborn so is there any metric or what is advaitha Vedanta standpoint with respect to a certain metric when it comes to a certain karmic liability which would not require you to be reborn again right so there are different frameworks so what you are talking about so there are frameworks in Tantra there are frameworks in Sankhya there's a Buddhistic framework there is a Vaishnav or Schieffer framework of a theistic religion and there's an ad vitac framework there's also a framework notice what you said what are you saying is correct the same framework physical body subtle body causal body what we call the subtle body suksham sharir one of the subtle bodies in english word you could as well translate it into astral body correct but here's the thing notice in all of this whether edgar cayce or paramhamsa yogananda g's teachings there's a whole concept of going from this world to other world from this birth to that birth and then also transcending or going beyond the physical body going beyond the astral body and then attaining to your real self and moksha notice underline the language there is travel in space waiting through time time and space what Advaita Vedanta says it's not that you are the physical body now then you have to become the astral body then you have to become the causal body then somehow have to go beyond that and become the real self you are the real self right now you are expressing yourself through a causal body and through a astral body or subtle body and through a physical body but right now you are that we else have you are Brahman itself right now this transcendence of the physical body subtle body and causal body with transcendence how does it take place you have to die and then have to go to hell no no no you are that right now and to realize it that I am that witness consciousness that itself takes you beyond the three bodies stool a sukshma car and a sharira with addictive will action Atma that Atman which transcends the three bodies when now how do you transcend through knowledge so it's not in adroit appearance it's not a journey in space from this world to next world it's not a journey in time now and then it's not a journey from one body to another body rather it's a journey from ignorance to knowledge to go beyond your dream world the world of your dreams to go beyond that where have edges have to go how long do you have to wait one split second if somebody comes and tells you no no no this is a dream world it is true but to go to that so-called waking world you have to wait until the end of this dream universe at millions of billions of years later the universe will end then you will wake up no it's not true to go beyond this dream world you have to ascend to a higher spiritual realm by this particular technique no that's not true all you have to do is to wake up from that you're there it's not a different place not a different time not even a different object wake up to your own real nature that is what adwaita tries to do it's so easy to say that how do you do it so many methods are there rigged the Chevy vehicle by the simple process of the Wrigley Chevy Vega the first thing I said today you are consciousness and whatever you experience is an object the physical body is an object the subtle body or astral body object causal body also an object to what if you intuitively feel that you will be awakened immediately it's a very direct way you see that seems theoretical difficult then there are many other paradigms for you there are many ways you can take the scenic route it is the scenic route take your time then talk to at 40 years meditation yoga are for lifetimes 40 lifetimes you can take your time the weight if you if you get whatever it is saying if it is true then it is true right now right here you are brahman right here that's what I'm trying to say thank you we'll take one or two more questions just five minutes the gentleman there thank you my name is Norbert thank you very much Swamiji flirting most delightful answers questions I have this particular it has to do with my having difficulties who are reading the way kachou Domini particularly when the discussion of manomaya kosha yeah it says that it's composed of Manas and Carmen Turia the sense organs and then further when it speaks of the John Mayer course yes it says that is composed of a Buddha and Buddha Andrea and I which is translated as senses of perceptions again and I couldn't find neither the difference between the two words Gianni Andrea income and Buddha Andrea and nor I mean I don't even know what these two terms refer to the word seems to be the same synonymous yes but obviously there is a difference mm-hmm all right the question is about the nature of the monomeric OSHA and the whig annamaya kosha remember this paradigm of the puncher kosher the five sheets of the human personality is taken from the ty tyrion position it's a procedure a methodology to realize Who am I it's not really about the body or the inner ears of the mind or the intellect they're just taken as successively subtler and inward coverings coverings which you're pointing towards the inner self retina now what you're asking now is the monomeric ocean the big annamaya kosha the entire inner instrument what you right now feel as the person inside which is something see the physical body is available to the doctor doctor can examine but you the personality inside thoughts feelings emotions ideas desires these are not directly available to the doctor it's not it's a first-person private thing that is the subtle body this subtle body is divided into three sukshma sharir sukshma sharir is divided into three the pranamaya kosha the monomeric OSHA and the Vig annamaya kosha now the monomeric ocean the Vig annamaya kosha are basically the same thing called the untuck karana the inner instrument which is divided on the basis of function the monomeric OSHA is the the - the mind the cogitating cogitating function you can count it with sense organs mono micro sure or the same sense organs and the intellect you can count them together as the big animecon quotient they are not distinct it's not even a case of double counting because the same thing being categorized in two different ways so the same same set Carmen Ria's different so Carmen 3 as the motor organs and they are usually classified with the prAna's we have to say that the Johnnie Andrea have their objects and boot Andrea have a different set of objects no gone in 3 and butenes we are the same thing the Buddha indriya is a new term coined in the big actual harmony you see what I'm saying is it seems as if it has been counted twice - plus Gannon Rhea manomaya kosha with D + G on indriya big anime kosha same ganon rhea and in medicine but you're also not different they're two different functions of the same instrument so when you count these sense organs with the mind do you call it the monomeric ocean when you count the same sense organs with the intellect you call it the gang a big big annamaya kosha it's not that but-- the Indri and Ganon we are different but the injury and Ganon they are the same thing the five senses here they are called Yanni in Rio they are they are called with danger but basically the same thing they yeah but there are all objects the objects to what the physical universe is an object - your sense organs yawn in real but the gallon real is an object to your booty from your intellect but perspective the senses are objects the booty itself is an object to consciousness Atma yeah thank you very much thank you so much yes the gentleman there - please come that's the last question otherwise I'll be late for Kierkegaard Maharaj pranaam I'm the Bonnie from Syracuse first thank you for making Advait Vedanta available for anybody who's interested through the YouTube my question is we have in the Advaita Vedanta Brahman is defined as such Anand are they mutually exclusive or do they arise from the central principle of consciousness the reason I ask this question is I don't exist unless I'm conscious of the existence and am I in Anand because I exist right so what is the relationship between life if any between sat-chit-ananda pure being pure awareness and pure bliss whole lectures can be given on this point in the tight Eyrie of initial where Brahman is defined as infinite existence consciousness Satyam guiana man anthem Ram Shankar Acharya goes page after page and trying to discussing the these terms no they are not mutually exclusive they are literally the same thing one way of understanding it is- the only way of describing brahman is as being because it is not non-existence it is it is described as consciousness because it is not unconscious it is consciousness it is described as Ananda it's because not that it is not bliss so these are not positive descriptions these are like negative descriptions this is one way of looking at it another way is it is the same thing which is understood as pure being pure awareness pure bliss another way of understanding this is a steve harty priam existence is understood where everywhere in this universe whatever exists there you find existence if it does not exist then it's not there at all so anything that you consider as real in this universe you will find existence there a stickler all right with me so us the existence is there everywhere where do you find Behati consciousness awareness where do you find it not everywhere where do you find it it's a sentient being living beings correct in living beings in a in a you know what is a living being the world very word has this living you put it in Sanskrit Parana so literally it means any being any existing thing which has a subtle body suksham sharir pranamaya kosha we're just talking about it pranamaya kosha manomaya kosha BG annamaya kosha then it is a living being there we find that existence follow this carefully that existence is now manifest as consciousness not only is is aware so isness awareness now further in that living being in the mind of that living being when that mind is soft weak pure calm serene then that isness awareness further manifests as bliss blissfulness fulfilment priam notice something this excessively telescope into each other existence when you talk about consciousness it must be a conscious existence it can't be non-existent consciousness so consciousness plus existence moment you sick a consciousness already existence is implied there otherwise it's non-existent so it's an existent consciousness the moment you say bliss all to all of them an implied it must exist it must be aware how can you be non aware blissfulness you are aware you are you are aware and blissful so in fact one of the the highest definition the highest indication pointing towards Brahman is Ananda bliss because it includes is less awareness and bliss bliss is a good point to end this discussion on thank you very much and please join us for food downstairs home shantih shantih shantih hurry he owned that such Sri Ramakrishna economist [Music]

Channel: Vedanta New York

Views: 65,960

Rating: 4.8889823 out of 5

Keywords: vedantany, vedanta society of new york, sarvapriyananda, swami sarvapriyananda, sarvapriyananda lectures, swami vivekananda, vivekananda, vivekananda teachings, vedanta ny, vedanta, vedanta lectures, belur math, jnana yoga, hinduism, spirituality, enlightenment, higher consciousness

Id: UFRp9FYqQDw

Length: 96min 33sec (5793 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2019