Atma Bodha - Self-Knowledge - lecture 1

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh Sahana Vova - aha no panic - saw have heared young carava waha ages way Nevada Thomas - Marv it we shall he own shantih shantih shantih welcome to our to our live webcast of our usual Saturday morning class although this morning's class is not usual at all because we begin a new text Shankar Acharya Sapna Buddha let me just check to make sure all these gadgets are working properly excuse me okay it looks like we're okay so we begin our study of Atma Buddha of Shri Shankar Acharya actually we taught this here in our New Jersey ashram in 2001 perhaps a few of you were with us back then we sat in our Old Hall very small very crowded and we studied hotma Bota back then we begin now today on our Saturday morning class just to give you some context usually our Tuesday evening classes are devoted to very deep vedantic topics and texts we finished most recently our study of the mon Dieu kiya Upanishad with gout a Potter's car Iike it was a very very deep study of Advaita Vedanta then we keep those classes for Tuesday nights and for our Saturday morning classes which we are now webcasting every class we reserve for class which are I won't say lusty because nothing is these are all Vedantic teachings are all very profound but how can we say more accessible we just concluded our study of Vedantic teachings from the Mahabharata in our prior class we spent five years going through selected passages of the Mahabharata that taught Vedanta so five years of teaching Vedanta studying Vedanta from the Mahabharata now we begin studying Vedanta as taught by Shankar Acharya in his autumn about and this particular text I'll introduce the text properly in a moment but it's chosen very deliberately because it is accessible it's wonderful and it's pure Vedanta I'll give you a proper introduction in just a moment first perhaps we should introduce the author Shri Shankar Acharya most of you are familiar he's generally located in the eighth century although scholars love to argue the accepted date by most scholars is twelve hundred years ago eighth century some renegade scholars if we can call them so place shankara's age at maybe a thousand years before I think we'll let the scholars argue about that I'm comfortable though with the date 800 C II twelve hundred years ago should I should mention that you know there are so many stories about Shankar Acharya he lived to the only 33 years he established these four Matas monastic teaching centers and a four corners of India and so many other stories including some very odd ones about Shankar Acharya perfo I guess the modern term is astral travel he left his body and one travelling another story about him entering somebody else's body these stories led someone to send me a question recently asking if Shri Shankar Acharya was a tantric master a master of of all these arcane Tantra practices and here we have to separate the man from the story stories I should say there are two traditional biographies of Shankar Acharya and all of these fanciful stories are found in those two traditional biographies and of course all the modern teachings are based on those two biographies to understand what's going on we have to understand that the ancient concept of biography was so different than our modern idea of biography today if you buy a book or read a book on the biography of some person you presume that that book is an objective presentation of the life of that person as accurately as all the facts can be be presented that's our modern concept of biography it certainly was not the ancient concept of biography in shun couldas time and even later the role of a biographer was not to collect factual information and presented in the most objective way possible the job of a biographer was to praise the person being discussed and if there weren't enough stories about the person the biographer was expected to make up stories stories of praise or not if not making in them up that to take stories that had been passed along through the generations stories that probably had no historicity to them whatsoever fanciful stories but the biographer had a responsibility to collect all these fanciful stories and present them in the biography so when we study shankara's life and read these biographies it's virtually impossible to separate the fanciful stories from the true ones fortunately it doesn't really make much difference whether Shawn could have lived only 233 years of age or whether he lived longer whether he established these four mottos or not whether he could do astral travel and all of that does it make any difference our focus is not on the person but on his teachings and his teachings are extraordinary he really is looked upon as the central figure in the teachings of Advaita Vedanta now when I say the central figure I don't mean to suggest that Shankar Acharya invented Advaita Vedanta he didn't Advaita Vedanta the teachings come from the Upanishads from the ancient Rishi's the ancient Rishi's were the originators of these teachings Shankara is is renowned for taking those teachings of the ancient Rishi's and systematizing them meaning he put them in a certain structure and in a certain order and made certain connections and clarifications and in doing so he endowed the teachings of the ancient Rishi's which were pretty difficult to understand but Shankar Acharya made them so much more accessible his writings are often called gulmira and press son Gumby era meaning profound press son meaning very pleasing easy to understand now shankara's words in which he systematized the teachings of the ancient Rishi's into three categories one category of his his works are his commentaries on the punishments I just mentioned there are many who punishes over 100 Shankar Acharya took the 10 Upanishads that were most focused on Advaita Vedanta many who punished odds are not focused on Advaita Vedanta so Shankara took the 10 most closely associated with with had to Vedanta and wrote brilliant commentaries on those 10 who punished shuts that's one of the three categories the second category of his works is just one work his commentary on the brahma sutra brahma sutras a very technical text that reconciles all of the Vedantic teachings found in the tan Upanishads and a Bhagavad Gita so shankara's commentary on that brahma sutra is considered one of the foundations of advaita vedanta that's second of the three the third of the three kinds of works are categories of works attributed to Shankara are his independent works the Sanskrit word for indicate independent work is praça da na praça da nagrand Taranto a book which is apricot onna an independent text and Atma Buddha that were beginning our study of is one of those many tract Adonis perhaps the best-known work of Shankar apricot Anna work of Shankara perhapses is Viveka chudamani many of you may have studied that work his other works include bodacious aha three very profound wonderful huge also bakiyev Rotti there they're actually several dozen works attributed to to Shankar Acharya in addition to hotma Buddha notice I'm using that word attributed to just like we have a problem with biography we so I have a problem with authorship we can never be and I shouldn't say never it's extremely difficult to be absolutely sure who is the author of a particular text that an Upanishads are most certainly Shankara Cheerios works they have a certain consistency among them the comment his commentary and brahma sutra is in exactly the same style but when we come to these pre-cut oh no works there in a variety of styles first of all they're not commentaries are independent works and they're in a variety of styles so it's much more difficult to say with absolute certainty that one work or another is is without doubt the the work of Shankar Acharya himself scholars would accept for example Oh bodacious aha three scholars would say definitely Shanker does work and then above the vacatur Domini many scholars would say definitely not shankara's work and when we come to Atma boda scholars are divided if anything they're they're a little bit thinking that Atma Buddha is not the work of Shankara himself but could be the work of one of shankara's disciples either one of his for immediate disciples or some later generation of disciple it's it's possible perhaps even likely but here again what difference does it make if Atma Buddha is the work of Shankar Acharya himself or if it's a work of one of his disciples the fact is is that the work itself is brilliant and wonderful and contains pure Vedanta in exactly the way we find Vedanta taught in Shankara as commentary so there's no question regarding the content of Atma Buddha I have to say Atma Buddha of all I can say this of all Veda Tech works without exception well I actually I'm gonna have to hedge my my favorite text of course is bhagavad-gita yeah goes without saying that that of all Scriptures bhagavad-gita would be favorite but if you were to ask me of Shankar Acharya smirks which is my favorite I would absolutely say Atma Buddha in fact other than bhagavad-gita would put Atma Buddha and I say second place doesn't sound good I don't mean to demean it at all anyway I love hotma boat a tremendous and and for a very specific reason I made this comment in our prior class if you didn't attend that class or see that class let me just mentioned briefly to me Atma boda is the equivalent of a Vedanta --k picture book and let me explain why I say that Vedanta uses many drish dantos drish tantas the Sanskrit word for metaphor and a metaphor is like an image in words that that convey is some some principles some teaching for example a common metaphor that we use in Vedanta and it's found in in Atma boat as well a common metaphor is like the Sun illumines all the activities of all the people on this planet in the same way the light of consciousness reveals the activities of your mind like the Sun illumines the world the light of consciousness of lumens your mind that's an example of a drish dontoh a metaphor notice it creates an image of picture and these metaphors make these teachings so much more accessible easier to grasp vivid and Atma Buddha I think is unique amongst all other vedantic texts in its extensive use of these his metaphors and when I say extensive almost every verse has address tanta a metaphor so it's like a picture accompanying every story to remember when you're a child and you and you would read these picture books or be a story with a picture attached to that story and you know if if there were no picture you might have found yourself less attracted to that particular story but the presence of the picture in your book made those stories so much more appealing to us as children so to me this hotma boat is like those picture books not that there's a physical picture but rather there is a dish dontoh a metaphor associated with almost every first in fact we'll see I think the the second verse we get our first metaphor and we'll see that in just a few moments okay anything else by way of introduction I should mention get that slide here so the text has 67 verses some editions have 68 and they fall into these different topics so we'll be looking at these topics as we go along right now it's not very meaningful when I prepare for classes I'll be making I'll be also studying traditional commentary on the text Optima Bota the commentary is attributed to Padma Fattah chunker das direct disciple so I'll be I won't there's no need to bring that directly into our class but I'll be be making some references to it perhaps as we go along I should also mention that these slides that you're looking at is available in a printed form on our website printed form means you have to print it out but you can go to our website go to the Optima boto page and you'll find the slides that you'll be seeing in this class so you can print out a copy of those slides if you like also the audio recordings of these classes will also be available on that same website page some people like to listen to the audios as they're like driving a car or maybe what taking a walk they'll use some headphones if that's of interest to you you'll find the audios available of course all the video recordings are our webcasts are all available on YouTube ok enough introduction that'll lead us to the first of the 67 versus its traditional for students to repeat each verse after the teacher so you can listen and repeat after me please topo bachina papa naam Popovic sheena papa naam Shanta nam vita raga naam Shanta nam Vita ragi Nam moo moo shu nama pic show yum moo moo shu nama pixie Oh young Hobbit Ovid he ate a rowboat Ovid he a the first first and in the last line of the first verse Shankara says ma'buta the deity i mentioned that when i when i recite the individual words like hotma buh da ha you'll find that the form that i recite is different than the form that you chant and that's due to grammar rules rules of grammar are such that when words are are side by side in a verse the spelling of those words changes due to rules called Sunday but when I'm teaching the individual words the teacher is supposed to break the words apart so when I quote individual words they'll frequently be slightly different than what you universe because I'm breaking the words apart for you it's called sandy voce de the separation of the of the Sunday's of the combinations so that last line Atma Buddha have the deity this text called Atma Buddha the deity has been composed and is being presented by the way there's a little pun not pun but a play on words the word on the Optoma boat that comes here has two different meanings one it is the title of our text so Atma Buddha Javed hiyatay this text called hotma Buddha is being composed as being presented but the second meaning of Atma Buddha is literally the boda the knowledge about Atma the true self which is the subject matter of the text and here in this verse you can take it in both ways either this text called Atma Buddha is being presented or this subject matter which is knowledge of the self is being presented and we're going to come to the importance of that knowledge in just a moment it's really the focal point of our first class before that or being presented for whom to whom every text every scripture has an intended audience in mind and just like like books you know a book remember when you were in school you know you had a book on mathematics and you had a book on algebra book on geometry notice each of those books had a different topic meant for a certain category of student so for example you first had an algebra book and then later trigonometry perhaps you had a trigonometry book and the trigonometry book came later the algebra book came first so there was kind of an order or sequence to those books books having different subject matters intended for different groups of students this is such an important principle and a principle that is woven throughout a Hindu tradition throughout all of our scriptures but it's often unrecognized so let let me point it out very clearly the name of this principle is Adi kadhi bata bata means difference distinction and a ducati refers to the category of student the kind of student or even the preparedness of the given student and the principal means that there are many many different scriptures and texts in the Hindu tradition and all of them are intended for different all of all of the scriptures have different subject matters or different emphases and are intended for different students will let's let's develop this a little bit this is really the the essence of this principle called a ducati bata for example we just finished studying Mahabharata now we excerpted vedantic passages from the Mahabharata but what we excerpted was just a tiny fraction of the whole text we studied what some 2,000 verses out of the 84,000 verses that make up the total of the Mahabharata we chose to vedantic portions but most of the Mahabharata is not Vedanta mostly its story but not any kind of story it's a incredible story and the purpose of that story is to teach Dharma and notice that in the Mahabharata we find teachings of Vedanta including bhagavad-gita of course occurs in the in the Mahabharata but if you look at the May in focus of those 84,000 verses the main purpose of the mahabharata is to teach Dharma especially how to interpret what is righteous in really complicated situations the Mahabharata presents all these incredibly complex scenarios and then it teaches us how to discern in the complexities of our own lives how to discern what is Dharma we find the same subject Dharma is also taught in the Ramayana The Situation's in the Ramayana are not so complex as they are in the Mahabharata but the focus of both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana is Dharma so if you want as a spiritual student if you want to understand Dharma better then mahabharata and ramayana are the preferred texts since that's their primary subject matter suppose you wanted to cultivate more body more devotion more of a devotional feeling in your prayers and worship to cultivate bhakti the Ramayana and the Ramayana is okay Mahabharata not so much so but there's a whole other category of scriptures the Puranas the Puranas contain these wonderful stories of great saints and sages very pious and also all the stories all of our stories about all the gods they all of those stories including all the stories of Shri Krishna and childhood onwards all of those wonderful stories are found in the Puranas and the purpose of all those stories is to cultivate bhakti to cultivate devotion now the topic of Dharma also comes in the Puranas the topic of Vedanta also comes in the Puranas but that's not the primary subject the primary focus the puranas is bhakti devotion cultivating devotion so if the primary subject matter of the Ramayana and Mahabharata is Dharma and the primary subject matter of the Puranas is cultivating bhakti notices principle of at Akari beta different scriptures having different emphases for different groups of students suppose we consider the Vedas the root scriptures source scriptures for the entire Hindu tradition many of you know that the Vedas are broken up in several ways a very common distinction is to distinguish between the karma kanda of the Vedas and eg onaconda of the Vedas karma kanda of the Vedas means the portion of the Vedas devoted to prayers and rituals rituals in particular the word karma there means ritual so the karma kanda the ritualistic portion of the Vedas is for whom what is he why is that emphasis present in that portion of the Vedas well its present suppose suppose you you are married and childless there's a ritual in the in the karmic aand of the Veda the ritual called Putra calm HD Putra calm HD is a particular issue or ritual that is to be performed for the sake of the birth of a son or daughter that ritual is taught in that portion of the of the Veda so if you want to perform rituals for the sake of invoking God's grace to improve the quality of your life you'll find those rituals in the karma kanda the Veda or suppose you're thinking long term not just this life but next life and you're thinking that that you could accumulate enough good car punya in this lifetime that perhaps in your next life you could reach Swarga heaven in order to accumulate enough punya karma good karma to reach heaven you'll need to do to do a lot of rituals those rituals are specified in the karma kanda of the Veda so here again another scripture having a different focus for a different group of people finally we come to the anaconda of the Veda the portion of the Veda that's concerned with spiritual knowledge the portion of the Veda that's called Upanishad the portion of the Veda that comes last veda anta the unta the last portion of the Veda are those who punish ad sense why we call this Vedanta and the content of those who punish heads of the G onaconda the knowledge portion of the Vedas the subject matter is this spiritual wisdom again a specific subject matter intended for a specific kind of student know what kind of student would go after the Karma can't go after meaning study the Karma the a onaconda of the Veda who would study the punish ads and why this brings us back to our our verse so that last sign hotma Buddha the deity this text called Atma Buddha has been composed in the go up one line third line the last word I am I am this text called Atma Buddha has been composed why a picture huh keeping in view keeping in view whom moo moo shu naam keeping in view these momoke shoes for the sake of MU muchos just text been composed for the sake of MooMoo cashews who is a MooMoo chew it it's a Sanskrit word may be unfamiliar to many of you moo moo shu literally means one who seeks moksha moksha is a more familiar word moksha means liberation freedom and we should understand this is a very important point moksha liberation or freedom excuse me the highest goal of life there are two kinds of moksha or liberation very commonly we think of moksha as freedom from rebirth liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth which is no doubt true but the blessing of moksha is not only for after this life the blessing of moksha is also for within this life in this life itself moksha blesses you with a different kind of freedom freedom from suffering moksha literally means freedom in one sense freedom from the cycle of birth and death but in another sense a very important sense a crucial sense moksha means freedom from suffering and freedom from suffering is a goal every human being once not just human beings all animals all creatures want freedom from suffering and Shankar Acharya says here that he is composing this text called Atma Buddha for the sake of those who want freedom from suffering and this leads to the most important topic for today's class and that is Atma Buddha literally means Buddha knowledge of Atma the true self and the most important question we have to ask right now is how can art mabu knowledge of the true-self free you from suffering Shankara says he's composing this text for the sake of MooMoo choose those who want freedom from suffering the content of his text Atma Buddha is Atma Buddha knowledge of the true self so the question and really important question is how can self-knowledge put an end to your suffering that's quite a deep question let's take a few minutes and understand this properly and to understand it properly we really have to go back to the Upanishads and back to one of the central and most important teachings of the ancient Rishi's I'm sure that you you've heard the Sanskrit statement tut - um I see you are that that statement comes from the chandogya upanishad and it is one of the most profound teachings of the ancient Rishi's what it means that we could spend many many classes unfolding the meaning of that short passage but the point for our discussion right now is this when the rish you said tat wama see you are that and by the term you is you that is what that means that divinity that means God that means a state of perfection that means enlightenment when and again this is a topic we can't get into detail but I want to focus not on the tuam part or on the Tutt part one is you Tut is that that divinity that which is God that which is enlightenment that which is a state of perfection but what about the verb I see everyone kind of ignores the turns out it's the most important and the reason it's most important is it's in the present tense how significant that is the rishi said you are that the Rishi's did not say you will become that the Rishi's never said you have to do lots of spiritual practice and then one day as a result of all your spiritual practice you will become that they never taught that they said you already are that my my guru put your Swami down under put it in some very simple but beautiful terms he said you already possess that which you want to possess you already are that which you want to become it's a beautiful way of expressing what the rish is expressed in those three words fatwa mercy and the significance is this in your true nature Atma is the word we use for true nature your true nature Atma is already divine already full and complete already free from suffering then what is the point of spiritual life and here's the point the point of spiritual life is this your true nature Atma is already divine already enlightened but you don't know it you don't know your true nature you don't know the essence of who you are and that ignorance not knowing the essence of who you are causes suffering so much suffering this idea of ignorance about your true nature is taught in countless stories some of you know this story of the ten tenth man Ashima Purusha but i just mentioned the mahabharata the famous story in a Mahabharata is karna karna who was abandoned by his mother Queen Kunti as a child and he was raised by a charioteer and his wife who were of a low very low caste and karna grew up being raised by this charioteer and his wife thinking that he was also of a low caste karna didn't know his true royal identity it's a metaphor because karna grew up without knowing his true royal identity he had a insecurities problem he always felt inferior he struggled with this issue a lot he suffered a lot this is an example to describe how the ignorance of your true nature can cause suffering here in Vedanta there's a different kind of ignorance we're dealing with here not ignorance of who was your mother or father this is a more fundamental ignorance this is a huge topic we'll do it very briefly now and then as we go through the text we'll be going through this in much more depth here's a point who are you in the most fundamental sense let's start with this you are the one watching me right now you are the one listening to what I say of course you know very well that whatever your eyes see you're watching some screen whatever image your eyes pick up is conveyed to your brain and mind similarly whatever your ears hear is conveyed to your brain and mind so who are you in a more fundamental sense you are the one who is aware of whatever is happening in your mind right now let me say that again this is really where Vedanta begins we're talking about Atma the true self who is that true self who is the the essence of who you are the essence of who you are is the one who is aware of what is happening in your mind right now your eyes are conveying to your mind if this image of me your ears are conveying to your mind the words I'm speaking but in your mind are so many other activities so many other thoughts concepts ideas so many other perceptions when you look around the room you see so many other things all of that is conveyed to your mind in your mind are all your perceptions in your mind are all of your thoughts ideas and concepts and your emotions as well when you feel happy or sad or angry or frustrated or joyful all those emotions are also in your mind and the point here is who are you in an essential way you are the one by whom all of these mental activities are known in English we have a word for the two words will use awareness or consciousness by the way in Vedanta has taught in English we tend to use these words interchangeably without any difference whatsoever between them awareness or consciousness to describe your nature we say you are a conscious being a conscious individual who is aware of whatever is happening in your mind right now you are an a we're full person conscious of whatever is happening in your mind right now this is crucial to the teachings of Advaita Vedanta because it gives us a starting point and the starting point is consciousness who are you consciousness who are you and aware full being you are that a we're full being or consciousness who knows what's ever happening in your mind right now this is a great great opportunity for my favorite question my favorite question some of you know it you've heard it from me before my favorite question is so what some of you would say yeah it's me fight acai hey when what's the point of it all what's the purpose of this we said before that this is supposed to be a solution to the problem of suffering so far it sounds very philosophical and maybe even a little bit abstract so how can any of this possibly address the problem of suffering here's how karna didn't know his parentage his true nature and as a result he suffered in a similar way you may not know the true nature of that consciousness we just described the consciousness which is your essential nature the consciousness that makes known all the activities in your mind the nature of that consciousness the true Nathan the identity of that consciousness is not known we so often use another image the veiled in ignorance your true nature is covered with a veil of ignorance what it means is that the exact nature of that consciousness is not known to you and let me explain how you get it I I know you get it that you are consciousness this is our starting point yes there is a body out here yes there is a mind and we'll talk about all of that it all comes in shrunken is text in a wonderful way the relationship between your consciousness and your body the relationship between your consciousness and your mind all of that we're going to discuss in great detail as we go through the text but for right now just start with this this basic point your essential nature is consciousness the consciousness by which all the thoughts in your mind are known the consciousness by which all the perception sight sounds here tastes and smells etc by which they and they arise in your mind so the consciousness by which all those perceptions are known the consciousness by which all your emotions are known that consciousness is your fundamental nature how could your fundamental nature be anything but the most essential aspect of who you are is this conscious observer of whatever happens in your mind it's absolutely fundamental it's rooted in your own experience it is an undeniable fact of human experience this is where we start where they danta begins however is that the nature of that consciousness isn't known to you you you may not know that that consciousness the consciousness which is present right now the consciousness which has been present in every experience you've ever had throughout your entire life you take that experience I'm sorry you take that consciousness to be something very ordinary anything that's with us every moment of every day naturally we're going to take as ordinary but the ancient rish you said no your consciousness is extraordinary Thomas II tuam that consciousness which is your true nature is Tut is limitless unborn uncreated vast your consciousness has no edge has no boundary has no limit means your consciousness isn't stuck inside your head somehow your consciousness pervades the universe your consciousness was not born on your birthday when your mother gave birth to you the consciousness that we're talking about already existed and already existed for all time eternal unborn uncreated and perhaps most importantly that consciousness is perfect full complete utterly unaffected by all the problems of life we use the word Ananda in fact that consciousness which is hotma we define with three important Sanskrit words sout chit Ananda this is three words that reveal the true nature of your consciousness sucked real meaning unborn uncreated eternal chit consciousness the consciousness by which everything that's happening in your mind right this very moment is known and Ananda full complete vast limitless utterly unaffected by world worldly troubles these three words reveal the true nature of your consciousness your consciousness known to you in a general way just like karna knew who he was in a general way he was he was a man very complicated man he was a mess karna knew himself in a general way but he didn't know the specifics of his parentage and that caused suffering in the same way you know yourself in a general way as consciousness but you don't know the specific nature of that consciousness has such chit Ananda sorry I just haven't looked at this machine for a while and I get nervous seems to be working fine so you don't know your true nature as such it Ananda and that lack of understanding causes suffering how that suffering arises as another topic we're that Shankara will get into and in much detail so we'll set all of that aside all of this that we've just discussed is to make one crucially important point you suffer in life because you don't know your true nature pooja Swami Dai Anandi my good love to use the word self non-recognition due to self non-recognition you suffer not knowing your true nature as sat-chit-ananda Atma you suffer therefore you are a moo moo shu you want moksha you want freedom from suffering we all want freedom from suffering we are all desirous of moksha free in a sense of freedom from suffering and here's a point how to become free from suffering if the problem is self non recognition the solution is knowledge of the self self-knowledge hotma bode this is why odd this is why Shankara says for all mu mu shoes for all those who want freedom from suffering Shankara says I have composed this text hotma Buddha to teach them to teach them what Atma Buddha self-knowledge why self-knowledge removes this preval of ignorance covering your true nature will reveal your true nature as being such chit Ananda leading you to transcend all worldly suffering how that takes place is one of the main topics that'll come in our text but all of this discussion right now is to establish this Shankara who is this text intended for MooMoo cashews those who want freedom from suffering and what is the subject matter of this text hotma boda self-knowledge and why is Atma bored are being talked to people who want freedom from suffering this is the ultimate solution the ultimate solution to the problem of suffering as Adam óbuda there are many temporary solutions if you're suffering due to hunger eat some food but it's a temporary solution if you're suffering from the headache take some aspirin take some medication but again it's a temporary solution the teachings of Advaita Vedanta which culminate in Atma Buddhists self-knowledge this is not a temporary solution it is the solution okay let's finish this first verse so this knowledge is being taught for those who seek enlightenment now whenever we speak of gaining na we have to deal with an issue in order to gain a particular kind of knowledge you have to be prepared to gain that knowledge I gave the example of mathematics before before you can study algebra you have to first study basic mathematics so basic mathematics is a prerequisite for the study of algebra the study of algebra is a prerequisite for the study of geometry the study of geometry is a prerequisite for the study of trigonometry and other things remember when you're in college every class you took had certain prerequisites for those classes here in vedanta autumn aboard self-knowledge has several prerequisites not surprisingly in order to gain knowledge you need to be properly prepared what kind of preparation is required go up to the first line to poke actually take take the fourth line first we'll end with the first line the answer second line Shanta nam vita Wragge nam so this text is taught for moo moo shu nam for moo moo shoes for those who seek freedom from suffering who are Shanta nam who are Shanta who are peaceful who are practitioners of meditation that specifically is what it means so the practice of meditation is one of the prerequisites for the study of Atma Buddha and by the way a lot of these details were going to see in our next class with the second verse so we'll hold off on that anyway one of several prerequisites for the study of Atma Buddha is being Shanta calm quiet focused one pointed all of which requires the practice of of meditation so just like the study of algebra is a prerequisite for the stud of trigonometry in the same way meditation is a prerequisite for the study of hotma buddha another prerequisite isn't an expert Vita Wragge Nam this text is for those who are Vita free from raga desire those who are free from worldly desires those who are not distracted by worldly desires this is pretty obvious if you were distracted by worldly desires well you wouldn't be watching this video right now so the point is is that you already have this prerequisite at least to some degree freedom from being distracted by worldly desires allows you to be engaged in spiritual pursuits please note most people are not interested in spiritual growth they're interested in fulfilling their worldly desires and as long as they're caught up in all those worldly desires they will never be free to pursue spiritual growth therefore freedom from worldly desires is another prerequisite for the study of Vedanta and finally another prerequisite here to poby he Sheena pop-on arm this text is taught for those who are keen upon arm for those who are kina for those whose Papa's for those whose sins have been kina removed purified to poby he by the practice of austerities those who have been purified through the practice of austerities now please don't think oh I haven't practiced it and he austerities I'm not prepared there's something very subtle and wonderful here Shankar Acharya a famous verse in Vevey kachou Domini his he says there are three things in life which are so difficult to get so difficult that they're only achieved if you are incredibly blessed if you are completely purified of all your sins and purified by good deeds you have done in thousands of prior lives Shankara says you get three blessings one is you're born as a human being second you have a desire for spiritual growth you are moo moo shu and third is you have access to spiritual teachings these three do love home trauma Vata a vitae de vaanu graha hate to come there are three precious things in life which can only be achieved if you have been purified of all your sins through thousands of prior lifetimes what are those three things minutia tuam birth as a human being MooMoo cute one desire for spiritual growth for liberation freedom from suffering and MA maha some sharia arya sorry maha purusha some sharia thank you Maha Purusha is guru some Sharia ha access access to a teacher access to a teaching tradition here the point is is that you you have in American English there's a word we use we say you have won the trifecta it's some kind of horse race where you win three different horse don't ask I don't I've never been to a horse race I don't know anything about it trifecta means you've won in three ways you are born as a human being you have a desire for spiritual growth and you have access to a teaching tradition you already have performed all those austerities of very first word tapas you've already performed all those austerities and prior lives because you have already been sufficiently purified of all your sins to have birth as a human being to have desire for spiritual growth and to have access to a teacher and teaching tradition you already have that qualification what a tremendous blessing it means that there's no remember if you didn't have a prerequisite sometimes you had to do some remedial study there's no remedial study required here meditation is required freedom from worldly desires is required but the most important things have already been achieved you have birth as a human being you have a desire for spiritual growth you have access to these wonderful spiritual teachings all God's blessings what could be more wonderful than that will continue in our next class Oh Sutter Vaibhav on to tsukina Sutter vase unto naira my solder vape at Ronny passion to MA cash at Duke above it asset oh ma Kamiya Thomas OMA Joe terror gamma Murat your ma Hammerton gamma own shantih shantih Xiang Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: ArshaBodha - Swami Tadatmananda

Views: 135,652

Keywords: atma bodh, atmabodha, atmabodh, shankara, shankar, vedanta, vedant, arsh bodh, tadatmanand, advait, advaita, upanishad, upanisad, veda, ved

Id: QlKPA35xGJ8

Length: 63min 15sec (3795 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 11 2020