Non-Dual Awakening | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] lead us from the unreal to the real lead us from darkness unto light lead us from death to immortality oh peace peace the subject this morning is i'm afraid an advanced one let me explain what i mean a senior monk once told me that when you give a talk in a talk there should be something for everybody there should be something for the newcomers the first timers who are coming to vedanta and something for the advanced students also something new for them so that's what i usually do you see i tend to begin at the beginning and most of my talks but today it's not like that today we're going to talk about certain aspects of advaita vedanta which are questions which come to the minds of those who have been in it for a long time so these questions are dealt with in today's talk it actually concerns one word in a mantra from the gupanishad the mantra which we have been deliberating upon for some time now very beautiful mantra which encapsulates to my mind at least the entire teaching of vedanta atmanam aya shariram anusang if a person just like us the person just like us we have the the purusa where to realize i am this infinite being immortal existence consciousness place then seeking what and for whose sake would one continue to suffer along with the body so here you see it starts with us an individual being like us coming to the realization of our true nature which means we do not know our true nature yet we are therefore not this individual being which we think we are vedanta reveals this to us our true nature and our true nature is not a limited body a body which is born and ages and dies a body which is different from the rest of the universe not like that but an unlimited existence which is neither born nor does it die nor does it change or age nor is it different from the entire universe so this realization which when it comes the result of it is a transcendent a transcendence of limitation chemical desiring what that that desiring what it shows us the very nature of our life now it's basically a nature of desire we want something in life we're going from goalpost to goalpost it's always shifting and never satisfied ever roaming around in the desert of this world so that is overcome we no longer seek limited things because we have attained something that is unlimited and for whose sake it says kasya kamaya for whose sake that means the little being which we identified ourselves with i am this person and for the sake of this person i want you know name and fame and success and happiness and pleasure and money and people everything for this little being no i realize i am not this little being i begin to get this clarity that i am already something much vaster than this little being therefore why for this little thing should i keep on running around day and night let it take its own course it will go on in its own course as swami vivekananda says let karma float it down he'd know no more than how body lives or goes its task is done so it was a vessel which brought us to the shores of realization its task is done why would you be the wording is very nice why would you continue to be fevered along with the fever that is the body it's a kind of fever you know in uttarakhand when a monk dies the language they use is that his body has been quietened is now at rest his body has there is a cessation in the body so it was like a fever and the fever is now gone so the person in his in his her real state now the body is why would you continue to be fevered along with the body so this is the nature of realization we come to an understanding through the processes of vedanta that's why i said this is for people who are already acquainted with vedanta and that's not a problem i know just about everybody here and i'm sure most people who are on the virtual audience very few of them would be first timers most of them have already heard this so it will be very meaningful most people who have been in vedanta know that by various processes of investigation investigation into what into our current already available experience that's the beauty of vedanta vedanta talks about what is already here not something to be attained later not some place you have to go to not some kind of experience you have to await what is already here you take a look at it with the help of vedanta and then we realize i am not this i'm not anything objective because it's an object to me the subject i'm not the drishya i am the drashta in the language of vedanta i am not what i took myself to be this body we investigate and we find this body has five layers subtler and subtler and inward and inward you know the physical layer this one everybody has the physical physical layer and then there is the life processes going on within which is called the vital layer and then even subtler and within and by within i don't mean physically within physically within you will find more more physical layer only you know flesh and blood i mean in a subtler sense life processes subtler than that is the thoughts and feelings which we all have nobody can capture it with an instrument but we all know we all internally we feel we are thinking we are remembering we are understanding or trying to and all of this is going on now that is the mental layer and then mental layer itself has a higher kind of functioning which is called a layer of the intellect which we are using for we use for science and philosophy and understanding things in daily life and beyond that in deep sleep um we access the deepest core of our being which is which feels like a blankness it's called the the bliss sheath you know what i'm talking about anna maya pranamaya manomaya and vedanta says this is not vedanta by the way these five sheets are not vedanta these five sheets are something that's already available to us vedanta just labels it for what purpose by labeling it we identify and we realize it's an object it's a thing just like this thing it's a thing a doctor from i think in england somewhere or scotland he emailed me once in excitement saying that i was looking at a scan of the body and i realized i've been looking at such scans all my careers and i realized it's a thing where am i in all of this i the awareness this aware being which i'm already i am i'm not in the five sheets i am the witness of the five sheets all the problems and limitations are in the five sheets but i the witness do i have those limitations do i age like the physical body do i get hunger and thirst like the like the vital body do i become frustrated and unhappy like the mental body do i have knowledge and ignorance like the intellectual body no i am the witness of all of that similarly the witness of the waking and the dreaming and the deep sleep it all points to the same reality each process does not yield a different witness it's the same thing so by all of these means you have you'll have the feeling of deja vu you know it yes we have heard all this somewhere earlier now in so you're in the right place now now we are going to go ahead all of this we begin to get an appreciation and depending on the depth of our understanding and clarity you will feel yes this is so you'll either feel i'm beginning to get it you feel that it's possible that this is the truth to the extent that it is so it's very clear to me now what is the problem the problem is here here is the subject of today's topic non-dual awakening it still does not have the feeling of an awakening you feel i've learned a particularly clever philosophy a very subtle system of thought i can't live it i can't walk the talk life throws what is the american phrase curved ball and i can't deal with it and it's happening every day how do i convert this uh so much study and understanding into something that into the currency of life into day to day how do i deal with my problems how do i rise above it so that is the subject today this is non-dual awakening vijayaniyat one word and uh this word from the mantra and the guppinished vidyarna swami in his text panchadashi he writes about 37 verses 40 verses approximately on this one word and he deals with several of these advanced topics which a person already immersed in vedanta comes across these questions how do i make this a living realization how do i get that non-dual awakening what is the nature of the problem here why am i facing this problem what is the solution vedantic meditation that's the solution needed how is it different from the meditation that i already do and what is the relation between the the two of them um this vedantic meditation do i do it with eyes closed and the particular time set aside for it or at other times also can i do it is it something to be repeated so it's very subtle points of this of interest how do i do it so this is what is going to be discussed that's why i said it's an advanced subject but not for you you're all advanced students that way so what is the problem here in vedanta when we enter into vedanta study and practice it's not just studying it it's studying it understanding it and then living it ultimately vedante is practical as swami vivekananda said in fact he said it was practical first and then philosophical so uh in this process what are the obstacles that come up and vidyar india very helpfully gives that he classifies those obstacles in the pursuit of vedanta into three one is at the level of the study itself when you hear the teachings and you're told that the teachings are from all based on the upanishads so these are texts and the problem at the first level is a textual problem that doesn't concern us today i'm just putting it out there so that you identify what what the different levels of problems are first is the textual level problem where when we actually really seriously study it and go to the original text the upanishads and they see various things are said there what does it all mean when you put it together a particular sentence when the open issues are texts so the particular text in the upanishads does it mean is it talking about the individual self or about the supreme self uh is it talking about something apart from this physical universe or a reality of this physical universe is it talking about um you know what is it recommending is it recommending ritual action karma or is it recommending a kind of meditative exercise upasana or is it recommending knowledge gyana these are big issues when you read the texts it seems to be saying all of these things is it saying that the universe is one reality advaita or a composite reality of parts vishesh advaita or a distinct discrete reality of separation where separation is real and the text there are text supporting each position which philosophy dualism qualified monism non-dualism which one captures the the upanishads best because they are all based on the same upon issues so this is at the level of text when we first come into the teachings and we actually take up the book and try to read for ourselves you may say i don't have these questions you are lucky so you don't have these questions but someone more skeptical than you you are all sincere devotees but more more skeptical than you might say that no this does not seem to support what advaita is teaching so you have this level uh of doubts at the first level and this is clarified by study by shravada by a systematic study of the texts under a competent teacher you get clarity that all of this finally amounts to tattoo it finally amounts to you are that ultimate reality the non-dual teaching of vedanta so this is an exercise which overcomes this doubt you are by that time you are clear this is the teaching i am that ultimate reality brahman what is meant by i what is meant by brahman these things have become clear that's not today's subject once have you once you have done this you come up against the second level of problems second obstacle the second obstacle has a name it is called asambhavana the impossibility obstacle i understand this is the teaching but i have many doubts how can i be pure consciousness i am a body how can the world which is so tangible i see it i hear smell taste touch how can it be false it is so evident so i have these questions about my reality you're saying i am brahmana but i feel i am the body and i don't understand how i am brahmana you're saying this world is an appearance in consciousness how is this world an appearance these are deep questions and they need to be clarified if your intellect especially in the way of knowledge if your intellect sets up opposition if it sets up objections you can't move ahead here it's not a question of believing in it it's a question of understanding if you do not understand then there's no point to it so the second level of it is questions and you reason it out either by yourself by repeated study by discussions and the texts they help us because these texts are full of these questions many many questions which you have never thought of and some of them which we have already it comes to us our mind while we are hearing this questions keep coming up you know ask swami full of so many questions hundreds of questions come in from all over the world so these questions have to be dealt with to get real clarity conviction comes at this stage that every possible doubt is cleared and as each question is solved or resolved or even dissolved and to use with against indian phraseology when the question is dissolved we we get more clarity and this ends in conviction yes this is not only possible it is true and i am that this is the stage at which today's talk begins now comes the real problem is that this problem also the third one which is the problem we'll try to solve in today's uh talk or see how it can be solved it is uh called viparita bhavana contrary tendencies after understanding i am pure consciousness i still behave like a body mind at the level of behavior level of reaction to the world so how do i solve this for solving this you have needed a vedantic meditation for solving the first level of problem what was the first level of problem textual interpretation mana shravanam system hearing and studying it systematically second level of problems which is the intellectual doubts about it lack of clarity we have got many doubts that is solved by mananam and many of the texts there are texts entire texts devoted to this kind of deep critical thinking entire text very recognized very subtle argumentation is there and then we have finally when we have got a clarity about it by the way you need not go through all those texts and then you feel scared oh good lord i have to read all those difficult transcript texts to go through the first level and the second level not at all you can even read one text study one text small one like drake brusha vivek or apparatus there's nothing in the even the deepest and most subtle argumentative texts they do not go beyond what is taught even in the simplest teachings you know it's prakaranagrantha introductory text the essence is what we have to grasp now the third level we come to is how do i put it into practice how does it become a living reality for me and the solution for this is nidithyasana so you see each level of vedanta shravana manananananandihasana is meant to actually remove you can see vedante in this paradigm it's meant to actually remove one obstacle now this is the level at which people ask you know it feels like an intellectual knowledge after this something more it seems to be lacking something has to be gained after this so how do we do that and for that vedantic meditation is there swami vivekananda called it assimilation he said tell yourself again and again you see for yourself again and again so hum i am he or i am that till it tingles with every drop of your blood until it becomes a living reality it should become effortless so what is this problem and how does it come about the problem is this that the world is a dualistic world it is a world of subject and object and we act in this world through the instrument of a body and mind and the entirety of our action in this world is dualistic the world evokes a dualistic response from us not a non-dualistic list but non-duality is not natural um duality is natural but naturally i don't mean true duality is natural and false non-duality is not natural but it is true this is the problem it has to be learned you don't have to learn to a duality i'm not talking about dualism which is a philosophy which you have to learn but duality just this way of subject object dealing with the world you don't have to learn it in a school you don't have to go to you know topic of duality awakening today the topic is non-dual awakening you never give us a topic like dual awakening because we are already awake to that we have been awake for lifetime after lifetime it's natural for us we are masters we are jivan mukta in in we can't say mukta because the very nature of duality is bondage is being trapped there is this story of in the uttarakhand of a monk who was a non-dualist and a friend of his a scholar who was a convinced dualist and um so one day that a dualist came and said to him that swami i'm not convinced about your non-dualism dualism is the truth so in hindi he said this dwight satyr so this the monk said to him if dualism is the truth well even that cow yonder cow who's chewing the the grass in the field that cow also knows that dualism is the truth because i and the grass are different that's why i'm chewing it to put it into my mouth if you are a pundit a scholar say something new what that cow knows you're repeating that in hindi he said well say something new yes so knowledge must be something um which gives us an insight into reality not just what you see to be to be real um the great british philosopher peter strassen sir peter strossen he made this distinction between descriptive metaphysics and revisionary metaphysics descriptive metaphysics is you take what it appears to be true and then design your metaphysics around it and revisionary metaphysics is you question what appears to you and try to give a better or deeper understanding so what you are saying does not seem natural the philosophy of the metaphysics you develop seems quite different from the way it is you're experiencing the world and both kinds of metaphysics are there so advaita vedanta would firmly fall in the category of revisionary metaphysic not descriptive but only apparently so you see this that's the beauty and subtlety of advaita vedanta what if this were the reality how would the world appear so if advaita vedanta were the reality if it was really it's really true that i am existence consciousness please the world is a projection of maya if that were true how would the world appear then just like this yeah is it really a revisionary thing or is it it is the best kind of descriptive metaphysics actually i remember having a discussion over coffee at the columbia faculty lounge with none other than gayatri spivak and a more staunch opponent of at least conventional religion you will not find but over coffee she was saying she made a remark she was obstinate on this point that swami whatever is there is here somebody had asked the holy mother and she was giving a reference of masha radha she said somebody asked the holy mother about the possibility of other worlds and you know and the holy mother said my child whatever is is here. and then gayatri spivak was saying that how profound is this statement whatever is is here and this is the conviction upon which skeptics materialists those who are against religion against any kind of transcendental thinking they they are firmly based on this and so is she but the beauty of advaita vedanta is that advaita vedanta says exactly whatever is is here it is now and it is you advaita vedanta does not move even a millimeter from what is exactly presented to us now and for all times there is no imagination there in advaita vedanta we are pretty matter of fact but really investigate investigate advaitan would say to spivak or strassen that yes whatever is here is here but what is here take a look into your own experience so um the problem is the world is a world of dualism it evokes a dualistic response from us we have studied and understood that i am the witness of all things including body and mind and this entire universe including body and mind appear in consciousness in being they do not have an independent existence apart from our uh our conscious consciousness and being now what is the reaction that we have the teaching is brahma satyam jagat mithya brahman alone is real the world is an appearance and i am that existence consciousness bliss i am brahman the jiva sentient being is brahman what is our reaction to day-to-day life the problem is this our reaction the problem has two aspects one is i react as body mind i don't react as brahman i am this body mind when i say identified with peace just i am this body mind we don't go around saying i am this body mind but we pretty much think and behave and feel as if we are body mind we think that we are this body mind naturally it comes to us we speak as if i'm this body mind it makes sense to me that i am here i'm speaking from this this place and you are sitting there what am i talking about i'm talking about the body and its actions and its location and it's natural for me this kind of country continuous conditioning we are doing to our own minds so we react not as brahman but as body mind to this world and the second problem is the world we take as real what is out there this is reality not jagat that the world is an appearance world is real the people around us are real this body is real and the problems are very very real we it's it's very difficult to dismiss it as an appearance as a dream as equivalent to a dream this is the problem we are we are taught and we understand by now we understand brahma satyam jagat mithya but what what do we feel and what do we behave like brahman is some kind of theory jagat satyam world is real we are taught and we have come to understand ahamram asks me i am brahman but how do we behave and think i am body mind we don't go around saying i'm body mind but we feel and behave as if we are body mind so the problem is these two aspects you see if you go little deeper you'll see immediately what happens i am the witness consciousness witness of what the first thing which i witness is the ego we normally think i but a little bit of vedantic analysis reveals to me not i but the witness of i as shankaracharya sings what is the ego right now you're feeling by ego i don't mean the conventional way we understand it oh that person has a lot of ego a lot of ego means very proud and obstinate and hearty not in that sense that comes later but before that just the sense of i rooted in this body mind that limited eye which uh which appropriates to itself the activities of the mind a thought comes in the mind understanding and immediately the ego says i understand no you don't understanding is a function of the intellect that's another module of the mind memory something is recalled from the mind from the depths of our memory what does the ego say i remember no you didn't it is the memory which did it it's one it's a separate part of the mind desire i want um anger i'm mad at you um then peace oh i'm so peaceful these are all activities in the mind and the ego appropriates them then from the mind to the body here i am standing the body standing here i am standing ego says i am standing here i am speaking i am server priyanda no a cluster of physical and mental properties which the ego keeps on appropriating and that's the definition of the ego in vedanta in vedanta if you go to and see what is the definition of ankara ego abhimaan kara the appropriating function of the mind is called ego it's just a function of the mind it's not you it's an activity of the mind the ego is an activity a hung car it literally means ego making it's an activity of the mind and it seizes in deep sleep it sees us you don't cease so i am not the ego i am the witness of the ego shankaracharya says i am not the intellect not the memory not the intellect is there memory is there ego is there the mind itself is there i am none of these i am the witness of that and they all operate but what happens is this gets occluded when we are not um fully enlightened when we are not jivan muktas when we have not gone to that when we are at the stage of i have understood but i can't leave it what's happening is very precise here is the beautiful very elegant analysis of the problem then we'll see how to solve it what's happening is i the witness consciousness the real con witness consciousness that fact is occluded or hidden and the ego which dances around somehow we forget i am this witness consciousness and i think i am this dancing ego the moment i am this dancing ego everything around it i become identified with it desire anger memory this personality this little creature the moment i become identified with the mind the mind is deeply connected with the body i become identified with the body i am this and the moment i become identified with the body the body is firmly a part of the physical universe the moment i become identified with the body what happens the physical universe out there becomes real for me it is easier it's very difficult to consider that i am the body and then dismiss this as false you can't the whole dream is false you can wake up from the dream but in the dream you're running in the african jungle and the lion is chasing you and you're terrified somebody tells you it's a dream if you think i am the person running and the rest of it around me is a dream the jungle and the lion is a dream it won't work first of all you have to awaken from that limited uh dream personality then the whole dream will disappear you see what's happening here identification with ankara ego immediate identification with the mind identification with the mind immediate identification with the body identification means the feeling of i and mine and really consequent reality of this waking universe it becomes it falls into place as a solid reality which resists you it is there the philosopher random chakravarti gave an interesting interpretation of the word object i am the subject and this word is an object for me if i am this subject this world becomes an object for me what is object it is that which objects to my consciousness it blocks my consciousness and appears as things when you see ears melted all of these are blockages to the infinitude of my consciousness because it feels as other than my consciousness but a beautiful interpretation it objects to you it objects to your infinitude you see but the enlightened person is also aware of these objects but for the enlightened person these objects do not object to that enlightened person they are they are part and manifestation of the reality which the enlightened person is his nose it appears there but it's not other than me like when you awaken from a dream you remember everything but you realize i and whatever i saw in the dream all are me only so there's nothing in the dream objects to me they're they're not objects to the subject who i am so these are the two aspects of the problem i am this body mind and the world is real this is where advaita vedanta becomes theoretical it doesn't feel like a living thing you know that's why krishna says arjuna asked him in bhagavad-gita there are two paths i can see you have clearly taught out to me in the 12th chapter beginning of 12th chapter there are two paths so far in the last 11 chapters you have taught me one is the path of the impersonal absolute satchida brahmana ask me he didn't say that i'm paraphrasing and another is the path that there is god all-powerful omniscient loving the rescuer of humanity in distress and you are the avatar of god krishna this is a path of devotion and surrender this is the path of knowledge which one is better he says which yogi the one who this bhakthi yogi or ghana yogi which is superior krishna is asked this by arjuna and krishna answers alas to the disappointment of us non-dualists he says bhakti yoga is far superior why he said the reason he gives there because the impersonal absolute amram has me is very difficult to realize for those who are embodied embodied again you have to understand careful embodied means with the body even the enlightened person in one sense is embodied because the body at least from our perspective ramakrishna vivekananda the holy mother all the other great enlightened beings they have we can clearly see a body how is that different embodied means identified with body mind here i am in this body man i think i am this only the enlightened person jivan mukta here the jivan mukta is in body mind but does not think that i am the body mind i am that consciousness in which body mind appears so this is crucial difference this is what is happening why the moment you become identified with the body the world becomes real and advaitha becomes difficult that's why krishna says at that point advaith is difficult and at that point bhakti becomes more powerful better advaita though it is the direct path if you are in that particular tangle and most of us are and then advaita becomes very difficult and authority none other than krishna even worse this problem with the aruna says when does it come and how often he says puna puna often and shanat in a flash it comes see if it was a problem of identification with body and mind i am mostly ahambramhas me i am in bliss blissed out once in a month or once in a year suddenly i become annoyed identified with the mind or feel sick with the body annual problem then it's not a problem at all like taxes it is unmanageable nobody likes it but it's manageable because it comes once in a year but um this does not come once in a year puna puna often not all the time but whenever there's some obstruction in the world some kind of problem in the world some objection from the world we immediately react to it as a separate subject object entity you know like a dual dualistic entity i am this body this mind and i am annoyed and mad as hell with you so this becomes a problem often every day every week every month and year or continuously we are having this again and again we are having this problem so punapuna often this problem comes up second um it comes in a flash what does it mean um if it were to come with some warning it's coming you are you are aham ram has me but i am body this body as me i am body this is going to come now you have got one minute of warning you could even easily all right let me just quickly read bishop awake or ready for the problem when it comes i'll tackle it no warning in a flash i am annoyed i am unhappy i am depressed i am miserable i am full of desire or passion or greed dissatisfaction flash it comes your computers in old days they had this booting sequence uh not nowadays they are very fast probably their system is different but booting sequences i remember they it would give you an opportunity to interrupt the booting sequence there was a default setting computer would load a few programs and function in a particular way i'm talking about those dos based machines or earlier you know or even later the linux based machines and you had an opportunity to interrupt it you press certain buttons and you stop the default loading and you can put in your choice at a at a time um but we don't get that opportunity with body mind it immediately goes into body mind mode into dualistic mode so these are the two problems what aggravates it comes again and again throughout our lives and this dualistic mode this body-minded intimacy identification comes in a flash just imagine compare it with the state of the mind of say holy mother she was asked do you remember who you are all the time and she said not all the time my child otherwise it would be difficult for me to interact with the world but then she says it is available to me whenever i need it whenever i want it it's available to me of course there i know the specific incidents if you read about it she is being asked about her nature as the divine mother do you remember that but the same paradigm holds for the jivan mukta for us also do you remember all the time that you are brahman and we should be able to give that answer we don't think about it all the time but whenever we want it's available to us do you think about being sarva-priyananda all the time no that would be a mental illness i am server priyanka i'm server priyanda two hours in the morning two hours in the evening no but i am so established in the idea of being server priyanka that it is available to me whenever i want it you ask me what's your name sarvapriyananda easily effortlessly so there seems to be no confusion about it exactly like that it should be i am this infinite unlimited being awareness i don't think about it all the time but it's effortlessly available to me whenever the world tries to evoke a dualistic response from me the response from me is no i am the non-dual brahman that is non-dual awakening so nidin meditation is to take us from this position that even in faced with this dualistic world of appearances we are firmly set in the in the knowledge i am pure consciousness and the world is an appearance in pure consciousness not that i'm always thinking about it but it is available to me whenever needed at a moment's notice effortlessly so that should be the that if you have that you are jivan mukta you are uh in your the living free now the question is and how do we do it but before that another question is we are already almost everybody here and many people in the virtual audience we are already initiated we already have a mantra we already have a meditation technique what is the relationship of that to your vedantic meditation which is going to come up so the relation is that the meditation that we are doing in vedanta that is called upasana and that is preparatory foundational and very necessary for the success of needed dhyasana very necessary vidyarnya uses two terms kritopasti akritopasti kritopasti is a person who has worshipped who has meditated upon sagunabram and god the god of religion avatar you know krishna rama ramakrishna in some form and name and you have meditated upon that you have a mantra you have an ishta devata ishta mantra devata and you have gone through these meditative exercises for a long time seriously up to the level of the savikalpa samadhi that actually having a vision of the of your ishta devata this is the whole course of mantra meditation ishta devata meditation this upaasana this person who has done this is called kritopasti and vidyaronya says for the critical past the non-dual awakening is in the palm of his hand it's as easy as that the next step and all these things would be theoretical for us if it were not for the example of sri ramakrishna who who just demonstrated all of these to the you know to the maximum extent possible today comes and sees sri ramakrishna sitting on the bank of the temple on the on the ganga and sees that this person is fit for non-dual realization why is krito pasti he has done the upasana the worship of god to the highest extent possible that he has the continuous vision or vision of the divine mother available to him he feels the presence of god all the time he's immersed in god consciousness in a dualistic mode theistic mode i am the devotee and i am the child and she is the mother and that way she is aware of the presence of god this mind is uniquely fit for non-dual realization and then we know the whole story of how he teaches vedanta to sudama krishna and takes just a little bit of effort and srirama krishna is absorbed in assam pragmatism samadhi after that is amazed what took me 40 years of effort this man he is going into it in three days he has attained all of that so vidyarnya says kritopasti for that person one who has seriously done this mantra and ishta devata meditation and there are some other meditations also prescribed in the vedas you don't have to do all of them the mantra and yesterday with the meditation itself is very powerful and sufficient for them non-dualism is very easy the next level of vedantic meditation is very easy one little side note here if you look at the great master the life of sri ramakrishna written by swami saraswatiji there there is an essay it's a chapter but it's i'll call it an independent essay on spiritual practice so what happens when you get a mantra when you get ishtadevat and you practice this then how you get the living the experience of the living presence of this devata in your heart then it becomes savikalpa the actual the vision of the ishta devata but then he goes on to say it goes further from saguna brahman to the nirguna from sagunadhana to the meditation on the absolute the same process continues so this is like a um kind of like an appendix that easter ever the meditation itself can take you to the realms of non-duality now vidyarya makes a further observation he says there is this other category of seekers called akritopasti who may have been initiated may have done meditation but far from achieving any kind of depth and seriousness and steadiness in meditation or they have not done the uh devotional meditation at all for them what is to be done is such people and he's writing 600 years ago nowadays in modern times there are many such people i think he would be aghast if he saw what is the condition today he says for such people vedantic meditation is essential needed they have to do a long period of needed asana it will be a struggle for those who are krita opasti not a struggle pretty easy for those who are akritopasti of which there are many i think you put all of us in the same bucket he says you have to work at it work at what vedantic meditation then only what you're looking for the jeevan mukti the effortless awareness me the effortless that the world is an appearance in me that will come it'll come he says it's possible in this lifetime itself but you must stay with it here i remember a very great teacher one of the few teachers i have i feel who are enlightened in this life in haridwar i met him so there was this discussion going on a devotee said household a devotee he had a kidney transplant so he was talking about it to the swami and the swami didn't know much about modern medical technologies so he was asking the devotee how are you and the devotee said uh swami i'm i'm good this transplant has been done but i have got many restrictions now medicines and diet the swami was curious why the kidneys already transplanted now why do you have any more restrictions and diet the devotee explained that the doctor told me if i do not take these medicines if i do not follow the diet carefully what will happen is this new organ it will not be accepted by the body as part of the body one second if it's not accepted i will not get the benefits of the new organ it will not start functioning properly third it may even die it may be rejected by the body as an alien thing so i have to follow these restrictions this discipline and medicines the swami was so excited when he heard this he looked around and he said to the gathered monks listen oh monks listen this is exactly what you all should be doing the knowledge that you have gained here by a strenuous study of vedanta and listening to all these talks and everything you have gained this now you have to do vedantic meditation needed you have to settle down and stay with that knowledge seriously for a long time intensify your spiritual practices not relax them intensify your spiritual factors otherwise what will happen is the knowledge will not be integrated into your personality you will not feel that i am brahmana second the benefits of that knowledge will not follow remember the benefits transcendence of desire transcendence of the limited personality that overcoming the sorrows associated with body mind those those benefits will not flow flow from it just like that organ third the knowledge may even be lost if you don't put forth effort of course a genuine breakthrough will never be lost but it can easily be covered over with the mud of worldly dealings so he says just like this man is undergoing a severely restricted lifestyle similarly intense practice is necessary for akrito pasty vedantic meditation do vedantic meditation but do it intensely it takes it'll take time be ready for that and it's not much it's powerful sudama krishna says it's like you have got a mountain of cotton how long will it take to burn if you put a burning matchstick into it it will go up in flames immediately you have a dark room which is in darkness for a thousand years if you light a match in it how long will it take will it take a thousand years to become lit up slowly the light will spread no flash like that what has been gathered over countless lifetimes will be burnt away in the space of one lifetime itself that's pretty fast pretty efficient you don't have to do conditioning for the next 20 lifetimes to becomes even mukta no in this lifetime itself all right moving ahead what kind of vedantic meditation so there are two ways of doing vedantic meditation i will just broadly delineate what is mentioned and i'll give a little example of what is meant by vedantic meditation so two kinds one is you may call it with eyes closed another one you can call with eyes open with eyes closed here it is very familiar to us it is the entire technology of patanjali yoga which is imported bodily from the yoga sutras and put in vedanta texts vedanta sara you will find yama niyama asana pranayama initial moral disciplines and how to sit and how to breathe and how to withdraw from the world how to focus and how to become absorbed in meditation the eight limbs of yoga are very familiar to anybody who has read patanjali yoga sutras you'll feel am i reading yoga or vedanta it is vedanta but the technology of yoga has been imported for what purpose not for the purpose in which it is there in yoga sutras no the purpose here is to stay with it that understanding which you have gained through shravana and manana that clarity and conviction if that is not there if i'm coming for the first time then that will it's not relevant to us but first of all when we have got when we have got this clarity you stay with it and this is a sitting meditation you can't be moving around when you do it you have to sit to close your eyes be still calm and peaceful environment regular morning afternoon evening [Music] so you do this meditation and withdraw inwards that clarity you have got you stay with it the mind will keep distracting you you turn away again and again and stay with that ahmramhasmi for some time morning afternoon evening so this is one kind and you find it in a number of isantik texts it is the practice the techniques of yoga which have been integrated into vedanta in fact in one place it leads to confusion sometimes somebody asked swami bhutesha nandaji the 12th president of the ramakrishna order and the question the background is if you read the story of tota puri and sri ramakrishna today teaches meditation teaches vedantity ramakrishna and vegetation and then we see sriram krishna goes into nirvikalpa samadhi nirvikalpa samadhi rasam samadhi is something described and prescribed in yoga sutras so is it yoga or is it vedanta what's going on here or is vedanta ultimately it comes and joins yoga or what is going on so this is the question um so a monk asked swami bhutah sanji it's published now is samadhi necessary for non-dual awakening for for vedantic realization is samadhi necessary buddhist answer was very clear he has a crystal clear mind remember he was about 97 98 years old at that time crystal clear mind he said no then it was not want to waste words is it necessary he said no but the follow-up question was but we read in we read that totally taught nirvikalpa samadhi to sri ramakrishna his answer was the reply to that was then you must understand there are elements of yoga in that in the teaching there were elements of yoga in that it is possible to attain realization through enquiry self-inquiry alone what was done in sravadha and manana but the yogic elements are imported to help you to stay with it that assimilation of that truth overcoming the obstacle not for enlightenment overcoming the obstacle so that that non-dual awakening becomes a fact of life for that this eyes closed meditation they don't call it that i'm just calling it i close meditation but you understand what is meant by that so practically what do the monks in the himalayas and other places those who are committed practice practitioners of non-dualism do they do this certainly they do it certainly i myself seen it hours and hours in meditation but they are doing the vedantic nerdy asana in contrast to this there is also the eyes open again my term this is not not a traditional term eyes open meditation um vidyarenya in the seventh chapter he mentions it and he describes it in a little bit um the verse he says is he calls it brahma bihasa practice of brahman a practice of non-dual awareness brahma bihasa what is it like it says thinking about that continuously speaking about that um discussing it with others this constant application to i am raman this realization is constant replication staying with it this is called brahma of brahman by the wise buddha the wise call this now notice this is not eyes shut meditation you may be listening to youtube talks you may be reading trigrisha viveka you may be studying text by yourself you may be asking questions to the teacher you may be talking about vedanta to somebody who was asking remember who's asking you don't be missionary in your zeal standing on street corners and handing out pamphlets come to a b brahman come to don't do that and that is not the way of vedanta or discussing it with others parasparamtat prabhudanam enlightening each other students who discuss a particular topic and the text themselves involve you in that kind of discussion this one pointed application staying with it not just one vedanta talk and then forgotten back to the hurley burly manhattan outside no staying with it and this is given in many places in uh vedantic texts in the midst of your activities of the world can you keep your mind on brahman that i am brahmana and this world i am active in is also an appearance just keep that keep your mind on that knowledge that awareness that understanding which you have already got gita brahma pranam ram mahavi brahma no brahmana brahmati naganta don't feel hungry just enchanted before food so everyone chanted time for food no it is actually vedantic needed it means in the midst of actions one who realizes brahman pervading every factor of action the doer of action is brahman the person you are performing the action for is brahman you're serving food maybe to somebody that's brahmana the instrument with which you are serving is brahman the food which you are serving is brahman it's actually taken from the paradigm of the vedic yagya so every factor involved in action is brahman though it has different names and functions and from name form and function nama rupa bahara projected by maya makes all this possible but underlying reality the material the substance of it all let us say all carefully used words that is brahman and to keep your mind on that it is as easy as looking at all the pottery in a pottery barn and saying all of it is clay you notice it looking at the waves in the ocean you notice the waves you enjoy the waves the beauty and the dynamism of the waves but you know at the same time every bit of it is water it's effortlessly both are available to you effortlessly this samsara of name form and function is available to your body mind job people family everything is available to you all is one brahman names and forms are fleeting shadows coming and going this should be equally available to us all the time staying with it is called brahma karma samadhi krishna teaches arjuna where in the worst terrible most terrible circumstance warfare in the midst of that can you be aware of the presence of the divine so this is called with eyes open meditation with eyes open which one should i do both both with eyes closed a little difficult and what takes practice but we must do it and also with eyes open during our waking hours keep your mind on this in the midst of it how is it possible especially in the midst of our all our activities so ramakrishna gives beautiful examples it's actually possible it takes a little bit of practice at first then it's possible and then you can actually become effortless even the vedantic meditation becomes effortless how so suramar krishna he says do you did you not do not see how the village women he had seen in the northern part of india women going to get water from the well so they go in a group and they carry these pots sometimes on their waist sometimes on their head parts of different sizes big and medium and small not only that they fill it up with water and they're heavy and they put one above the other and they carry it back carefully ever so carefully because if one tumbles it'll all come crashing down and not only do they carry it back when they're carrying it back they're laughing and gossiping and talking with each other it is exactly like that you can learn to keep your mind on i am brahmana you can do the same thing for devotional practice also you can keep your mind on the mantra but here in our particular case of vedantic meditation if you apply that example this awareness this truth which you are already understood you have studied it and you're clear about it try to keep it here in the midst of it even while the body and the mind are appearing even while people are appearing even while activities are going on try to keep a mind on that notice for the women who are walking back many activities are going they are walking on an uneven road maybe they're talking to each other remembering things laughing responding to questions but and keeping this steady but that and keeping this study that's the first priority so if it becomes slightly verbally there everything else will stop but that will go there it's not that they'll enjoy a joke and let it come tumbling and down and crash no so that thing which they have made effortless equally we can make it effortless i am brahman like the holy mother said i don't remember it all the time but whenever i want it's there it should be like that for us whenever when do we want it pain comes physical pain somebody behaves badly with us a little disappointment comes something that creates anxiety temporarily comes for us use it that's a call that's a call to us that's the universe helping us in vedantic meditation you may think it's an obstruction no it's a challenge which revokes a response all right now here it is i'm going to feel anxious i'm going to feel unhappy i'm going to feel uneasy no i won't i am an immortal being i'm existence consciousness i was there before this little circumstance came up i am there because i am there the circumstance is like dancing like a devil in front of me without me it wouldn't exist and i am that reality into which this little ghost will vanish i'll still be the same let's see if it's true or not it will be true things may improve a little things may decline a little doesn't matter i am that infinite ocean in which waves arise and disappear the ocean is unaffected let the waves arise i am not increased thereby let the waves subside i am not diminished thereby i the ocean i am that infinite existence in which let birth come i am not increased thereby let old age and disease and death come i am not diminished thereby so this stay with it this is called with eyes open use it in the midst of life another example he gives is the balance in a shop you see a balance in village shops for example are in like little general stores if you want something the man will put what you have selected they have put it on one one pan of the balance other pen he'll put weight until they are balanced equally balanced he says just like that watch the mind watch your reactions to the world if the world side goes down and the other pan comes away from god or from your real natures brahman then you have to put more weight on that side so that it comes down on the side he doesn't even want it to be on imbalanced he wants it to be down on the side of aham ramahasmi or on the side of my keeping my mind on god we'll immediately realize the moment negativity problems come in the world our reactions problems are there it means the balance is towards towards the world the pan has come down towards the world immediately put weight on this side so that this goes down the mind must come away from the world and come down on the side of god it must come away from the falsity and come down on the side of reality what is reality i am this non-dual brahman how do you do it so many techniques are there here is one you need to relax a little for this tell yourself whatever i see hear smell taste touch everything around me meaningless drop it it's nothing to me all including all the people friends relatives meaningless no matter how cruel that might sound only for a few minutes we are doing it so don't worry even enemies we don't want to let go of enemies drop it meaningless then go inside thoughts feelings emotions ideas memories meaningless drop in that calmness that space of quiet as thoughts arise and believe me they will thoughts will arise perceptions will arise feelings will arise become aware that they are arising in me the witness consciousness don't ask me what's the witness consciousness you have to go back to shavana then drink the shepherd first class so they're arising that's obviously arising in made a witness each thought don't be interested in the thought be interested in the witness to whom the thoughts are arising thoughts are many thoughts are changing thoughts are infinitesimal they are passing in seconds that witness is the one it is the unchanging it is not passing things pass in its light use everything that comes and goes those splitting feelings emotions ideas desires memories use them all to become aware of yourself as awareness stay with it i am the awareness i am not the thought i am the awareness i'm not the body or it's aches and pains as the body becomes like an appearance in your awareness easily the world also will become an appearance in your awareness in you the awareness not your awareness but you are the awareness stay with it for some time here you are not supposed to try to hold on to one thought let thoughts come be relaxed about it and use every thought every perception every memory every desire as an occasion to become aware of yourself as awareness you see what i mean try it you will see this is one method just one method there are many such methods six methods are given in rig rishi viveka fifteen methods are given in upper oksana and across the vedantic text various kinds of methods are prescribed you did not worry too much about the method which brings us to the final matter in today's discussion with the orange discusses this sometimes people ask this is a question people ask so am i supposed to repeat me so we are accustomed to repeating mantras om nama shivaya what do you do with it repeat it how many times thousand times morning thousand times evening how long till life lasts go on repeating now are we supposed to repeat it and if so how are we going to repeat it what are the rules and how long should we repeat it the answer is no no no you're not supposed to repeat it you are not there there are no rules prescribed for it and there's no how long about it why not what is the difference between repeating a mantra and something like me aham ramhasmi is to be known not to be repeated swami atma priyanji you have seen him here so many many decades ago several decades ago when he became a monk the day he was initiated into monasticism so swami gambhira anandaji the 11th president of for order he gave the vows of monasticism to swami when he became swami after priyananda and other monks so he told us the story it's anecdote about it he and the newly minted monks they went to swami gambhiran and said we have a question you have given us the mahavakya and that you are brahman ahamram has me so how many times should we repeat it how many times so you've given us a mantra you have to repeat the mantra isn't it it makes sense and swami kamiranji again a man of very few words the very see the name itself is gambhiram in sirius ananda bliss one who's bliss is in seriousness so he's a man of very few words a very strict person you're sitting with his eyes closed yeah praying she gets very vivid descriptions he's sitting with his eyes closed how many times should we repeat brahma ask me he said it is for realization not for repetition any other question no you may go don't go away what does he mean it is for repeat not for reputation for realization so this goes back to the vedic context the karma kanda context there are certain rituals and um you know texts and meditations which are meant for repetition the idea was if you repeat this a certain amount of punya there's a technical term for it adrishta punya it will be generated and without on the merit of that you will attain to heaven after death this is called adrishta adrishta falam means the result of this practice is not something that you will get in this lifetime you're storing it up for postmortem experience so you will experience it but only after death and then how much are we supposed to do do how many repetitions throughout the lifetime you keep on doing it and the result of it will be you you'll get it after death attainment of heaven or some such thing the vedic commandment is the sacrifice called agni hotra fire sacrifice those who desire heaven how long throughout your life and how do you have to do it precise rules are there as against this you have to do it throughout your life precise rules are there and the result is after death you don't see the result in this life because it's not a result to be attained in this life you have to follow a set of rules and you have to keep on doing it there's no question of till when and how many times but contrast this with something like drishta which gives you results right now you are hungry what do you do eat now do you ask how much should i eat how should i eat not really i am hungry so how much should i eat till i'm not hungry anymore how should i eat whichever way you like because the point is uh to overcome hunger and overcoming hunger is something you will experience right now in this life itself till you experience it you eat and whichever way you like you should eat that way till the result is obtained because the result will be obtained now in this life now this brahmagyana this jivan mukti freedom from suffering and attainment of one's real nature realization of one's real nature is it drishta falam or radishtafalam is it something unseen and waited for after death or is it something to be experienced now here now here just like eating and satisfying your hunger it is like that since it is like that how long should i study vedanta till you see the result how long should i do vedantic nidhasana do you feel you have all your problems have solved are solved you are effortlessly established as me you have it's your problem you have solved it to your satisfaction fine so there is no commandment it's not something meant to be repeated again and again it's a knowledge which you have already got the clarity you have to stay with it till it is stabilized to your satisfaction you see the difference between vedic rituals or any kind of puja and this vedantic non-dual awakening you stay with it till you feel that it is natural to me i pray to sri ramakrishna the holy mother swami vivekananda may they bless us by their blessings may this realization blossom in our hearts in this very life itself and may our lives be blessed um namaste please be safe everybody here and those in the worldwide audience take care [Music] you

Channel: Vedanta Society of New York

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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, meditation, mindfulness, realization, consciousness, moksha, nirvana

Id: DVmWlRmOnSo

Length: 74min 3sec (4443 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 07 2021