Non-dual Meditation - Part 1 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] um [Music] um oh [Music] [Music] um the question is that if the ultimate reality is everywhere all the time and nothing different from us then why is it that we are not able to see it or to experience it to know it here and now if it is there everywhere it should be here if it is there all the time eternal it should be now and if we are told that it is our buddha nature always there not to be developed not to be grown not to be produced but rather to be uncovered to be discovered our own shiva nature our nature as brahman the ultimate reality is being awareness place why should we not be able to uncover it discover it now and get the benefits straight away why should it take 10 20 30 40 years of sitting and watching the breath or repeating a mantra for 50 years so advaita vedanta says yes it is always there always available in fact always revealed also not really covered the only covering we say covering of maya we often do a disservice to ourselves when we talk about the covering of maya as if it's some kind of extraordinary subtle mystical covering it is just that we do not know and we make a mistake it's we do not know and we make a mistake do not know in sanskrit agaana and the mistake is adhyasa superimposition we do not know our real nature as awareness somehow it is obscured we do not know it as awareness and then we make a mistake the appearances in awareness we take to be ours ourselves there is a subject which appears a body mind a mind sensory system working through our body we take it to be ourselves naturally and there is a world of objects out there with which we interact and thus samsara goes on that's what's been happening all the time and yet the underlying awareness the background awareness this open clarity this luminousness which is which is us to which everything is revealed that is not so difficult to find it is in fact revealed in every experience in fact no experience is possible without it experience is possible without it since it is not an object and we are most familiar to in knowing objects what we see are objects what we hear our objects what we smell taste touch our objects what we think about are also objects even the thoughts themselves are objects so we are most familiar with objects only problem the reason why this our nature as awareness luminosity the atman is hidden from us the only problem is it's not an object that's the only reason we all know the story of the ten persons who crossed a river by now we're familiar with it and they thought that one of them had drowned in the river and when they counted they found only nine because each person who counted left himself out he's counting one two three four five six seven eight nine where is the tenth person or tenth person is drowned see the existence of the tenth person is hidden and then the mistake comes oh tenth person is drowned mistake depends upon ignorance the mistake what is the mistake tenth person is drowned why does it come ignorance ignorance about what existence of the tenth person why is the existence of the tenth person such a mystery why is it such a mystery it's actually a very beautiful parable why is it such a mystery because all the other nine one two three four five six seven eight nine are objects for the counter and the tenth person is the subject himself and so it's very easy to miss it is very logical to think there are nine objects so i'm looking for the tenth person i have found nine out there as objects the tenth person should also be an object somewhere there can't see hence drowned but i am the tenth person quite different from these objects that luminosity that consciousness it's not an object so the way to find it this also gives us a clue the way to find it it's hidden in plain sight only thing is it's hidden not as an object it's hidden because it is the pure subject the way to find it is then look at all the objects which we think we are and eliminate them to see clearly that we are not them once all those mistakes we think that we are the body we are the senses and the mind and this person as we eliminate them one by one in our understanding the hope is tenth person our real self the luminosity the awareness it will become obvious it will never become an object it will never become an object and thank god the fourth quarter of the drikdrisha viveka says the pure subject consciousness atman never becomes an object and thank god it does not become an object if it became an object it would be an object to whom so it is ever the witness never the witnessed ever the subject never the object by eliminating all objects the pure subject should become evident that's the way that's the way of drinkdrisha truth is a corrosive substance of infinite power once you hear it it will continue to work it may work for some of us we are lucky straight away for others a little bit for others it might not seem to have much of an effect right now but it will always be there for all of all of us so it's good to hear this what we will do now many of us we have been following especially those of us who have been exposed to advaita vedanta a lot you will thoroughly enjoy this for others it might seem strange and alien one thing to do is as we go through this don't treat it as a lecture treat it as a pointing i am trying to show something which is right here and the way to see this is to track your own experience just stick with experience not thoughts notions not conceptions not even philosophies just experience as it is available to you right now we will add to your experience to our experience present experience present experience just the teachings the pointings of advaita vedanta not as a philosophy there's a direct pointer to something available to us which we are it's not even that we are not seeing it vedanta would claim that you are just being obstinate you're you're missing it you're you're refusing to own up to something that you are seeing and for that we are paying a great great price the price of samsara so this experience just track it in our own experience so i will speak not for long the whole pointing is pretty short actually and then we will go on to take questions questions are very important here all right just follow me just watch what i'm doing listen carefully and try to see with eyes and with the with the with the eye of understanding so we'll go through two exercises here two pointings these exercises just pointing like i'm showing you c here here see this flower just see at any one point if you feel you will feel like closing your eyes and feeling deeply you can you're free to do that just be relaxed but aware see this flower here look at the the yellow color of this flower notice one thing is this flower an object a thing outside and you are seeing a yellow color or is there any flower as an object apart from the yellow color you're seeing a yellow color here a shape if you look at the flower carefully we see a shape particular shape petals a kind of semi hemispherical shape and a deep yellow colour so shape and color the question is apart from the shape and the color are you seeing a separate object called flower or all that we are seeing is a shape and color and we name it flower very important i'm asking you apart from this sensation you are directly experiencing yellow and a shape we call it a flower apart from this is there a separate object outside in the world called that's what we think actually we normally think there is an object flower now i am seeing an external object called a flower but when i ask you what is it exactly that you're seeing literally you are seeing you are seeing a patch of yellow in the sunshine with a particular shape apart from this color and shape in your experience in our experience there is no object called flower very important this first stage is a very preliminary stage but extremely important we are making a very very radical claim that there is no object called flower apart from your exp no object called flower in your experience apart from your experience of yellow color and shape all you are actually correct all you are actually experiencing is yellow color and shape no swami there is an external object called flower which you are holding light is bouncing of it coming to my eyes and then i'm getting the sensation of yellow color and shape all that is thought and notion and concept not in your experience this is a fact of overwhelming importance in your experience there is only yellow color and shape stage one no object apart from the color and the shape no object called flower i am in my experience i don't experience anything else prove it where is the object called flower i've taken away the yellow color and the shape you can't see yellow color and shape anymore where is the object called flower yellow color and shape deeper apart from my seeing my seeing i've got my eyes open and seeing apart from my seeing of this yellow color and shape is there any yellow color and shape proof you have to prove it to yourself close your eyes for a moment close your eyes for a moment right now do you see any yellow color in shape no you can open your eyes low and behold the yellow color and shape is back it is your seeing apart from your seeing you have no experience of a yellow color or shape what did i say in the first stage you have no experience of an object called flower apart from seeing a yellow color in this shape in the second stage i am saying you have there is no nothing called yellow color shape of this flower apart from your seeing it the activity of the sense org and the visual sense organ that activity if you stop that your experience will still continue but you will not see any yellow color or shape we have accomplished two things one there is no object called flower in your experience i'm not saying in your worldview in your conception in your scientific knowledge that's a different thing in your experience you never experience an object apart from the color and shape you never see an object apart from color and shape step one step two you there is no color and shape apart from your seeing someone looking confused somewhat like of course go ahead it's a most simple fact i'm just appealing to our continuous experience if you don't see the yellow color and shape there is no separate thing called yellow color and shape it's only you're seeing it and your seeing is nothing apart from you the awareness think about suppose if it were possible to blank out your awareness deep coma or anesthesia or something would there be any seeing nothing there is no seeing apart from the awareness the awareness alone a particular modality through certain brain centers and the eyes that awareness is experienced as seeing and the seeing is experienced as colors and shapes and the colors and shapes are thought of projected as objects no object apart from color and shape step one you have reduced all object which you are seeing all seen objects to color and shape this flower is only color this color and the shape here step two this color and shape are nothing other than the seeing itself my activity of seeing the sensory activity of seeing without that there is no color and shape it's a simple fact a truism a tautology absolutely simply and directly true close my eyes no color no shape no no seeing no color no shape there is no such thing as an independent color or shape apart from my seeing it is only my seeing which is appearing there is no evidence of anything like that and apart from awareness there is no no possibility of any seeing it is only the awareness through a certain modality through a certain channel it gives you the experience of seeing now i am not denying that it seems that apart from the color and shape there must be an object called flower which you are holding swami it seems like that not only that it seems like color and shape are something this there's something called color something called shape and by seeing is seeing it it seems like that this seems like although it is not there it seems like that this is called jagat mithya the falsity of the world in your experience no object called flower apart from yellow color and shape no yellow color and shape apart from your seeing no seeing apart from awareness try it in a short meditative exercise look at this colors and shapes all around are there people chairs a hall it seems to be so to understand it even more vividly think about your dreams you see people places and objects activities without any actual objective people places or activities they're only projections in the mind but you see it seems to be there similarly all that we are actually seeing even a physiologist tell you will tell you that you're seeing colors and shapes the eye can see only colors and shapes now these colors and shapes are entirely dependent on my activity of seeing shut your eyes and see that they all disappear they all disappear neither are there any objects in your experience right now which you are seeing nor are there colors and shapes and if you imagine that consciousness itself awareness itself disappears then the seeing will also go i am that awareness in which seeing happens i am that seeing which is experienced as colors and shapes and then we take it to be actual objects quite external although all through and through all that exists is this pure subject the awareness second exp second experiment now we shall do the same thing with sound listen to a sound and i will ask this question first question we all know that you know there are sound waves which come and then i experience them as sound you know waves but in my own experience apart from the sound which i am hearing do i have any experience of waves outside listen gently close your eyes this is done with better with closed eyes when you hear the sound [Music] attend carefully to it is it not only a sound a particular timbre and tone and loudness and constantly decreasing volume and fading away apart from that experience of sound is there any evidence of an object called sound outside it a thing called sound no it was only sound once more only sound and this sound apart from my hearing is there any sound absolutely not if i do not hear no sound at all the sound is nothing but the activity of my sensory activity of hearing and the sensory activity of hearing is nothing apart from i the awareness let me repeat that sound [Music] experience it that sensation of sound other than that there is no object called sound that sensation of sound other than hearing there is no sensation of sound this sensory activity called hearing other than awareness there is no sensory activity called hearing every bit of hearing is pervaded through and through by awareness once more [Music] sound hearing [Music] awareness gently open your eyes let's do both of them together did you notice one thing the flower here and the sound here clearly two different things right the seeing and the hearing still different but the awareness awareness do you think there are different awarenesses same awareness and you which one are you are you a patch of color no swan what are you saying are you a ringing sound no no no i am the seer of the color i am the hearer of the sound correct will you agree i am the hearer of the sound and the seer of the color and the seeing of the color the seeing of the color is it different from awareness can it exist without awareness no this hearing of the sound is it different from awareness can it exist apart from the awareness no even a little bit of it partly in awareness partly outside i'm hearing sound little bit in awareness little outside awareness no that's ridiculous i am seeing color little bit is in my awareness little bit outside my awareness both i am seeing no whole thing of seeing and hearing are both in awareness then what am i am i the color am i the sound am i the hearing am i the seeing or am i the awareness what do you think awareness and it's true to say in my awareness seeing arises and in the seeing color arises shape arises in me the awareness hearing arises in the hearing sound arises sound has a beginning and an end hearing has a beginning and an end but does the awareness have a beginning and an end before the sound started was there awareness now is there awareness there now is there awareness there now [Music] is there awareness there now at the beginning of the sound there's awareness during the sound there is awareness when the sound fades away there is awareness at the beginning of seeing there is awareness during the seeing there is awareness when the seeing is gone there is still awareness awareness does not arise or disappear seeing arises and disappears hearing arises and disappears so does smelling so the smelling of fragrance that arises and disappears so does tasting savor the food when you're tasting it notice that the taste is nothing other than the experience of the tongue and the experiencing of the tongue is nothing other than a modality of kind of awareness that awareness was before the food hit your tongue that awareness shown upon the tongue doing its work in experiencing the taste of the food it was filled with that awareness only and when that experience of the food is gone the taste is gone awareness continues as it is which one am i am i the food am i the tongue or am i the awareness awareness am i the flower am i the i or a mighty awareness awareness am i the sound or the ear or the awareness awareness but also this is the beauty the flower is nothing other than the patch of color and shape and the patch of color and shape are nothing other than seeing the seeing is nothing other than awareness everything that we see is nothing other than i the awareness everything that we see everything that we hear is nothing other than i the awareness you pervade every sound that you hear everything that we taste or smell or touch is nothing other than i the awareness all objects of this world are pervaded by i the awareness by you the awareness this awareness also we call it witness consciousness which is witnessing all these things but notice the things that we witness here are here the things that we witness see hear smell taste touch they are nothing other than us the awareness this whole universe of experience is nothing you other than the awareness itself it is one awareness in seeing hearing smelling tasting touching also thinking remembering desiring hating also individual ego i that is the same awareness in that awareness early in the morning i pops up and slowly that eye also disappears moment to moment and again when we fall asleep awareness goes on that awareness this one what we really are is not the mind the mind also appears in that awareness it's as much an instrument as the eyes or the ears the eyes and the ears are called bahir karan external instruments and the mind intellect ego and memory digit is called antakaran inner instrument both of them channelize awareness and generate different kinds of experiences no objective universe apart from the experiences of various thoughts no experience apart from awareness it is not that experience is happening to you we normally think we are going through life getting many experiences vedanta is saying advaita is saying it's not that experience is happening to you you are experience one of the grandest and stunning definitions of brahman that i found anubhava matram param brahma experience alone is the the absolute brahman very careful what do you mean by experience alone experience without any separate experiences and object experienced that means awareness only pure experience is brahman pure experience does not mean experience of pure things i experience garrison institute and this is brahman but i experience broadway that is impure not brahman no no not in that way the essence of experience is awareness when i say the sense of experience is awareness are you following from the two two experiences we had of the flower and the sound flower experience what is the essence awareness how flower experience is nothing but color and shape color and shape are nothing but seeing and seeing is nothing but awareness which part of seeing can be without awareness which part of this color and shape can be there without seeing the entire universe is within us as experience and experience is only awareness shining forth this experience this awareness is infinite without limit so no no swami that you are saying right now but outside this wall so there's a limit you can't say everything is in your experience what is the limit of vision there that wall the wall there up to there is a limit of vision but awareness is not limited by the wall because i'm aware of an existence outside the wall that is an institute so but that is also in the mind because i have seen it i have memories of it there is a vast vast world out there which i have not seen i have no memories i do not know anything about it how can you say swami that is inside your awareness that is in my awareness as the vast unknown as you get entities objects places and people from that vast unknown and bring it to my mind through books and news and all it becomes known to my mind as you bring them before my eyes it becomes known to me as seeing or hearing or smelling or tasting or touching in no case was it outside awareness awareness is vast limitless so no swami there are time you were born on certain date a few years ago what about that before that was your awareness before and after past present and future are you aware of them or is past present and future aware of you are you aware by the way i'm aware of the time don't worry are you aware of this or is this aware of you you are aware of this this exists in your awareness time exists in your awareness even the idea there was a time before when i was not born this body was not there mind was not functioning and all of that this whole thing is also in my awareness only take a stand as awareness in i the awareness what is the relationship between this vast awareness limitless awareness and you i and this awareness are one and the same i and this awareness are one and the same notice also if i and this limitless awareness are one and the same then everything is included in this awareness all beings are included in this awareness all experiences included in this awareness everybody you know every person whom you know your friend your enemy so called they're all within you the awareness they are nothing apart from you the awareness you can call them appearances in awareness but they are nothing apart from you every person you know is you the awareness not you the body you the awareness every event that you know is you the awareness every creature every plant and animal every planet and star every quark and proton is you the awareness make a distinction between awareness and knowledge so knowledge is a subset some awareness is as it were channeled into seeing hearing smelling tasting touching thinking understanding remembering we call that known and there are objects for that but that knowing and the object we saw this one whether it is something like this or something like this they are not apart from you the awareness there is a question yesterday for yesterday that won't this lead to you know disregard for people that i'm all right i am brahmana i don't care about the world no it will actually lead to a tremendous sense of inclusivity like awareness is like the vast blue sky in which the entire world is included you are this vastness in which everybody is included because they are you in your awareness alone they are appearing is this flower not you the awareness actually experience it as flash of yellow in my seeing seeing in me the awareness this flash of yellow called flower is nothing but you the awareness appearing in this amazing form before you in you the awareness subject and object appear the subject identifies itself with mind and sense organs and calls itself server priyananda and the object is now identified as flower but both clearly are in awareness which one am i am i the flower no no no i am server priyanka am i server or the awareness the awareness experienced as server priyanka so this awareness once we realize i am this awareness there is an unconditional love it may sound like abstract philosophy there is unconditional love coming in it's a complete acceptance of everybody and everything if it appears in awareness it cannot be different from you it must be you the worst of events the best of possibilities happenings good people bad people pleasant unpleasant they are nothing other than us the awareness this vastness this is the meaning of me i the limitless awareness in which arises seeing in which arises so-called flower i the limitless awareness in which arises hearing in which our eyes is so called sound our usual way of thinking is there is a sound and i am awareness and i am contacting the sound somehow and experiencing it that's our way of thinking so separate world separate awareness coming in contact experiencing it but if you follow your experience you will see that they are not separate at all there is no evidence of a separate world apart from awareness it is in awareness the stuff of this universe is awareness not that there's an awareness out there not that if you pound this table hard enough you'll reduce it into wood chips and wood chips into wood dust and that into awareness no it is an appearance in awareness in that sense it is awareness i am that awareness that is the meaning of me aham i this consciousness brahman literally the word brahman means vastness awareness vastness that's the direct english translation of me tattoo masi the great mahavakya of the chandu gyovanisha that thou art that awareness thou art which one are you the flower no swami the seeing of the flower no swami the awareness in which seeing and flower are arising yes that direct awareness is brahman you see awareness is this very self what is the self awareness brahman is infinite unlimited now you will see i'll make one more comment and stop you will see we have approached it in quite a different way from the usual method i teach trig drishya viveka notice what was done in rigged shavika notice what we did now the difference is very big in rig rishabh viveka what we were doing is we were trying to see what i am not in drikdrisha viveka trying to see what i am not this is the process of drinkdrishya we wake up here is a flower look at the flower and we are saying rupam drishyam lochanamdrik farm is seen drishya eyes are the seer lochanam eyes are the seer form is seen what am i supposed to do now notice form is different eyes are different yes this is easier form is changing i see this flower and that flower and that face and that place forms are changing eyes are the same forms are many see same eyes can see so seer and seen are different i am the seer and the scene is different from me the scene is of many types the seer is one the scene keeps changing the seer is unchanging this is very simple go deeper tadrishyam drikthumanasam the eyes become the scene and the mind is the seer what do you mean just blink your eyes when i blink my eyes i'm aware i blinked my eyes eyes become the object and the mind is the knower now by seer i mean nowhere now and what what am i supposed to understand from this the seer and the scene are different is the mind and the eyes are they different yes the mind is the same but which sees different sense organs the mind is relatively unchanging the sense organs are changing in many varied ways seer is one scene or many seer and seen are different seer is unchanging the scene are changing go further mind itself are we aware of the mind yes i am the witness of my own mind thoughts feelings emotions ideas memories even the ego comes and goes and i'm experiencing it who experiences the awareness the seer and seen must be different the awareness must be different from the mind i the awareness and the witness of the mind so the mind is not different is different from me and the seer the awareness never becomes an object the pure consciousness never becomes an object so it can never be different from me i am it this was the process of drigbrishavika what did i do i am not the flower i am not the eyes let's do it this way not the flower the eyes not the eyes the mind not the mind the witness consciousness can i go further not the witness consciousness no you can't first of all the witness consciousness is not an object so you can't make it and separate it from yourself and if you make it an object somehow then who will who is knowing that still that then that must be the witness consciousness so i am the witness consciousness now the problem with this approach is this is easier more direct but this is also incomplete what you have just done is alienated yourself from the universe the world is apart from me body is apart from me the mind is apart from me i stand as the pure subject a light shining upon a separate world this is sankhya not advaita after this has been understood i the witness consciousness follow this carefully how do we make the transition to this final teaching which i gave just now after we have understood that i am the witness consciousness apart from the universe it is true that the objective universe is apart from you are apart from the objective universe drastica is separate from drishya it is true i'm just repeating what i heard sadhu say in hindi i'll tell you in hindi and translate drishta so the question is this it is true that you the witness you are apart from what you witness the the flower the eyes the body-mind i'm apart from it but have you ever asked yourself is the flower and the body mind and all is it apart from you you are separate and different from the entire universe yes absolutely but have you asked yourself is the universe separate and different from you so isn't it the same thing no consider your dreams you are entirely separate and different from your dreams how you existed before your dream came on you existed during your dream you exist after your dream has gone correct you are different from the dream but is the dream different from you no not one bit of the dream is different from you not one bit of this universe this flower or that sound is different from you the awareness it is true that water is different from the wave what do i mean by that before the wave the water was there during the wave the water is there actually only water is there after the wave subsides what is there water so water must be different from the wave but is the wave different from water no it cannot be the wave cannot exist without water similarly the wave of this universe is not different from you the water of consciousness it's you only gold is different from the ornaments it can be a bar of gold doesn't have to be a necklace it doesn't have to be sometimes the gold is necklace sometimes the gold is a bracelet sometimes the gold is an earring so gold is not an ornament it can be different ornaments but are the ornaments different from gold can they exist without the gold no the ornaments of this universe are not different from the gold that you are the consciousness that second part was what we did now reducing the universe back to you the witness consciousness if you can put these two together you have it advaita non-duality and what kind of advaita not the one we read in the text experiential if you do this patch of color no flower apart from that patch of color and shape no patch of color and shape apart from seeing no seeing apart from awareness all things seen are nothing other than idea awareness all things heard are nothing apart from id awareness so also all things smelled tasted touched thought understood loved hated desired all of those things are nothing apart from idea awareness non-duality nothing apart no second reality no second non-dual advaitam what is advaitam you are advaitam you are non-dual you are this non-dual consciousness all the time available to us all you need to do is claim it notice it it is so what practice is necessary nothing no practice just like going to the garrison institute does not mean that you have to get up and go somewhere actually you just have to know this is the garrison institute this is brahman this is what we are choicelessly so and completely safely securely so look at the result of this old age disease death of the appearance called the body before and during and after i am no old age disease or death for media awareness depression unhappiness misery of the appearance called the mind happy feeling no nothing more than like seeing a patch of nice color like a life nice flower nothing apart from me the consciousness happy feeling nothing apart from me the consciousness miserable feeling like seeing some piece rotten or some some dirty thing if you see on the ground it's an appearance a patch of color and shape similarly a miserable thought a painful experience in the mind disappointment nothing other than a patch in an appearance in me the consciousness not affected me at all neither life affects me nor death affects me beyond birth life or death am i the awareness but but life and death are not apart from media awareness they appear in me i am immortal i am free i am immortal and free i'm all inclusive and therefore unconditional love for all i'm vast and transcendent like the sky but also imminent in and through everything not as slogans not as rhetoric directly available now this is the nature of awareness this is the real witness consciousness now this is not a practice if you have understood if you have followed what was going on it is not actually a practice it is a direct pointing to the an ever-existing reality if we wanted truly awakened into brahma-gyana brahmasmi if you truly awaken into abraham gyana what will happen is this is exactly what we'll recognize if you can stay here then this is the state of a jivan mukti you know what is the jeevan mukhtar if we are beginning to get what was is being said here imagine this being your natural state all the time effortlessly that is ajivan mukta freed while living it is all the time actually our natural state it is a strange thing called confusion created call it maya or whatever or the play of shiva that we feel it is something incredible that i have to attain so actually this is not a meditation exercise it's a simple statement of fact one day a shift will come right now it feels like a meditation exercise to whom does it feel like a meditation exercise to the thinking mind the mind which thinks of itself as an embodied awareness to that mind it feels like a tremendous exercise meditation exercise to that mind not to awareness awareness is given and even now as we do this if you think about it it will be uploaded recorded and uploaded listen to it again and you think about it you will get this a sense of peace a sense of limitlessness and sense of deep lasting contentment will dawn upon us and even when we are not doing it in the gaps when we are busy with the world we are back to our um limited awareness body mind and engaging with the world a fragrance of that infinity will follow us until until this is not the end until a permanent shift occurs right now we think we are this embodied person who has somebody put it beautifully a door as if it's a door to infinity which has really opened up in front of us there we walk through it into the open sky this is our state now soon a shift will come when we are always outside in the open sky in infinity that becomes our natural state and to interact with the world you will have to assume body mind identity i the infinite in order to interact with you guys have to pretend to be bill for a while this thing called bill i'm not making this up this isn't the punch of the suramar krishna also says you know sometimes he would say this thing aware of honey this place aware of the limitless nature in order to interact within maya i limit myself as it were this thing apart from that and now interact that's also fun swami vivekananda said simple phrase stand on the self this is standing on the self owning up to the fact this is there right now it's perfectly compatible if you want to follow your breath for the next 20 years fine no harm there you've got the infinite awareness who can stop you you want to follow your breath for 20 years repeat hamsa for 40 years meditate on ishta devata all those are beautiful things no really i'm i'm srila krishna put it very beautifully this is the deepest explanation of his statement tie the knowledge of advaita firmly to the to the hem of your cloth that means stand on advaithic knowledge then do whatever you like your devotion or your service seva social action or meditation you can be a hermit in the mountains you can be tremendously active person being a blessing to society whatever you are settled firmly in your nature as awareness try to do one thing i am awareness and everything is an appearance in me the moment you give physical reality to the world outside i'll repeat the moment you give physical reality to the world there's an external real world outside you know what will happen you will immediately be the body the body will also become real and then awareness will become an embodied a feature of this body then you will think okay how is the brain producing awareness hard problem of consciousness the philosopher galin strawson said there is no hard problem of consciousness awareness is ever directly available to us in awareness matter body brain appear and we have somehow thought matter body brain our primary how is this brain now generating awareness hard problem he said consciousness is not the hard problem the hard problem is matter why is this appearance coming in awareness that is the hard problem all right we'll stop here one way is to explode this with questions let us see do we have questions from the zoom audience please tell us some questions yes everybody's resting on the sale question a question from prasanna in that awareness experience comes and goes is the question in that awareness experience comes and goes in a manner of speaking yes but actually what comes and goes is the object here object that object is also nothing apart from awareness a better way of putting it is appearances come and go in your awareness here is an appearance here it is gone you had and you called that experience of flower experience of flower has gone what has gone that patch of color appeared in you the awareness and disappeared in you the awareness experience continues you experience the flower and you experience the absence of flower you experience the sound and you experience the absence of sound has experience stopped no but that experience which i'm talking about which does not stop or begin that is a limitless experience it is the same as awareness itself when you say experiences then you have tired experience different objects of experience that comes and goes yes remember this beautiful definition i don't know where i read it fantastic definition the absolute reality is conscious is experience alone experience matram literally means just that now that just that is a very profound thing just that means you exclude a separate object experienced a separate person experiencing takes take experience itself as we saw apart from this experience of yellow patch of color there is no evidence of a separate object called flower then this flower becomes experience only yes one more yeah and then we'll take a question from here or no no questions from here all are in the self all right we'll come to you question from reika kalikar according to gowdapada there is no samsara then how can there be something to witness yes therefore isn't it only the consciousness that it is all right number of questions you have to unpack three questions were there so regards listen to you carefully according to gaurav pada there is no samsara first how can there be anything to witness and isn't it only consciousness that is experiencing itself is that the last part yes there is no samsara yes and no when is there samsara when i the awareness obscuring my own nature as awareness somehow i have been thinking so far i am the mind and this body here are other body mind systems here is a physical world and somehow i have to survive and make my way in this physical world as long as this i exist as this body-mind system samsara starts samsara starts i am a limited being the moment how am i limited being the body is limited it was born it is aging it will die the mind is limited it has so many desires it's subject to happiness and misery at the drop of a word swami vivekananda said slave to a good word slave to a bad word the moment somebody says something good about me i feel happy be careful if you feel happy with words of praise you will feel miserable with criticism that which has the power to make you happy has the power to make you miserable also that is samsara moment i feel limited then i want limitation i want i feel i'm limited in life i want to live longer and longer immortal i feel i know so little i want to know more and more the entire library limited in knowledge i feel i'm miserable i want happiness limited in in happiness limited in existence limited in knowledge limited in happiness our real nature as awareness is infinite existence there is no depth for that awareness is infinite knowledge because every knowledge is in that awareness there can be no knowledge apart from that and that awareness is unlimited that unlimited nature we just saw there is no physical boundary to that awareness because physical boundaries are in awareness there is no temporal boundary temporal means time because time is in awareness there is no limit of an object outside awareness therefore awareness is without a second object advaitha non-dual this infinite nature when we realize there is no samsara because there is no want anymore so samsara is in ignorance of our real nature in that sense it is there but godapadha says in truth there is no samsara then what is it that we are experiencing second question isn't it consciousness experiencing consciousness yes it is true it has this extraordinary power we call it maya to generate names and forms nothing apart from consciousness it's all within you not one single person place event animal bird particle of matter is apart from you the consciousness here literally it's you but this extraordinary thing it appears to be a vast universe spread out so this is called the shakti in kashmir shaibism it is your own shakthi dancing in front of you as this abhinava gupta the great kashmir shaiva beautiful phrase what is this universe ultimately tell me the final message prakash light is shining beautiful light shining that is our life what do i do you are that light what is all this it's your shining gorda pada says the same thing why does this i understand to some extent is awareness business but why is awareness aware of anything at all and what are those things that we are aware of that is the question so from science from materialism buddhism jainism theistic religions sankhya yoga kashmiri shaivism advaita vedanta whole range of answers is given science will say matter you're aware of matter real things out there buddhism will say it's all it's only mind it's all appearances in the mind a stream of appearances in the mind sankhya says prakriti is there which appears to you the pure consciousness and so on kashmiri shaivism says shiva's shakti is dancing in front of shiva advaita vedanta says consciousness has the power of maya which projects names and forms like this patch of yellow in consciousness advaita vedanta will say what god says he even goes beyond this maya he says why talk about such things as maya then what is all this he says devastation this is the very nature of the shining one who is the shining one you you don't say good for the shining one what about poor me you are shining but it's misery for me you are the shining one final devastating about this world it is the very nature of the shining one it's the very nature of thorium to shine as waking dreaming and deep sleep it is further compressed by abhinava gupta who says you are light shining that is the answer yes welcome to bill and then um yes bill the question is that empirically there may be certain prerequisites to gain this knowledge empirically means we see in the lives of spiritual seekers and the textbooks also tell us there are certain prerequisites to gain this knowledge but logically he says he asks is there really any prerequisite to gaining this knowledge no what does brahman need what does that unlimited awareness what disciplines what diet does it need what routine does it have to follow to know itself as light nothing but from that perspective but notice also all these spiritual disciplines actually become much easier when you stand as awareness it's only when we stand as body mind it becomes a struggle swami vivekananda says even from the beginning of your spiritual practice always make a habit of thinking of yourself as the atman as this unlimited awareness that is a practice what we are talking about today is the culmination is the actual revelation of everything as i the awareness so logically no because logically you are that but it's a game that kashmiri shivas have put it nicely it's a game that shiva plays shiva wants to be a worldly person trapped in samsara and misery and wailing and weeping then shiva wants to be a spiritual seeker for many lifetimes seeking and seeking then shiva wants to be an enlightened shiva yogi and then finally shiva all over again finally shiva all over again yes so what is the question why is this this difference there true true yes so he's asking about morals a moral and ethical life the question was in the intellectual world there are very intelligent scientists philosophers who may be morally delinquent and yet they come to some deep understanding of science and mathematics and but in the spiritual world when you trans try to switch from the object to the subject the two don't go together one cannot have an immoral life and yet be highly spiritual one cannot have an immoral life and yet realize oneself as as brahman why not do you see the question why is this so important in spiritual life moral and ethical the reason is this what is immorality what is lack of ethics it is a greater and greater immersion in materialism the more and more reality i give so i'm giving the answer in terms of subject object as you said the more and more reality that i give to that material object in front of me the more it has the power to tempt me or terrify me fear and temptation this is samsara and the more i think of myself as a material being the more i need these things or i'm more i'm scared of these things nobody does unethical acts immoral acts out of pure unselfishness i am stealing as my practice of karma yoga no my daily practice of karma yoga is to chase and beat these unfortunate people no it is because of arrogance and greed or fear and anger all derived from a deep materiality i am body mind as i said this little while ago the moment you make this world an external hard reality you become a body not awareness awareness will be there you will be a body with awareness awareness it's as simple as thinking that the flower really exists outside me moment you say flower exists outside me what is this a real separate existing flower what are you then body because really if you are a body then the flower exists outside you this is a body as much as you are a body then start samsara now in that material world a kind of intelligence will work you can discover truths of science you can be one can be a very intelligent economist philosopher so and so forth but to realize oneself as the pure witness consciousness one must step away from that materiality and there i'm giving a very philosophical answer to your question there a rigorous course of ethics and morals is necessary notice ethics and morals is basically curbing our materiality it is saying no to many things yesterday we were talking about how anger is a kind of a special kind of problem with its unique properties and the object of anger is something different lust a special kind of problem with its unique properties object of lust is different greed special kind of problem with its own object so but lack of anger absence of anger non-violence absence of greed absence of lust they are all of one form only peace so ethics and morals are foundational they are foundational for civilization let alone the highest product of civilization which is spirituality yeah yes jim then we'll come back to you oh pradeep was there jaime and pradeep and then we'll come back to you yes so the question was jim's question is if you really establish yourself in this awareness i will not even he said concept of awareness but not even a concept as this is a reality more real than this not a concept will you say this flower is a concept no you say it's real if this is real then awareness is more real than this to awareness this flower is a concept it's an appearance an appearance is a concept only after if you really establish yourself as i am the awareness then what impulse what motivation is there to carry on the activities which keep this body mind going why would you continue to exist in this world why not just remain as you know light shining but that presupposes one thing i am not the body but i have the responsibility of keeping this body alive and feeding it and holding a job and paying taxes so i have just made stepped away from the body only no all of that i am not and if i'm not all of that there is another power which keeps this going actually you know it is a false ego which thinks i am responsible for this body mind at least this body mind and i keep things going no we don't the gita says nature prakriti maya god whatever you call it is doing everything here and when you truly appreciate this you see that you are the non-doer akarta the atman the light is the non-doer it will go on as long as it needs to go on it's no swami my life will fall apart let it fall apart very very soon there will be forces and impulses within which will put your life together so the light awareness that you are watching your well-ordered life will be the same awareness watching your well-ordered life fall apart will the same awareness which will get your act together and get your well-ordered life back again as long as it will last but you are that awareness no need to interfere with anything in their appearance you are all of it enlightened people actually have their lives much better put together than us sometimes they may not seem to but they are much more fulfilled and they are free of all the tensions which afflict us you are asking yes yes the question is that yes it's beautiful to think of that all inclusive awareness like the sky which includes everybody but once i feel completely fulfilled then would there be any motivation to do anything for myself or for the others after all the others are i'm not doing anything for myself i'm the awareness i don't need anything and the others are even less than that they're only appearances in media awareness why should i do anything for them but remember this all-inclusive sky-like awareness is unconditional love that's how it will be experienced by the mind of the enlightened person so the very natural thing in the mind and the heart of the enlightened person will be an overwhelming compassion for everybody who is there and there are none are different from me just as right now we feel we need to do things for this body mind even more than that we will feel i don't need to do anything for myself and anything that i can do for others is a very natural expression of my enlightenment it will come that's why in buddhism so he's sitting right behind me two things go together this maha karuna compassion and shunyata the realization of the emptiness of all existence is exactly the same thing i'm talking about you're talking about infinite awareness and they're saying it's emptiness it's the same thing notice this infinite awareness we talked about isn't it an emptiness what hard object is there in that awareness nothing what hard subject is there in that awareness nobody subject object-less void filled with light and the buddhist this is buddhist language clear light of the void but this clear light of the void is taught in tibetan buddhism in mahayana buddhism also along with maha karuna the great compassion so which which is that which is behind the whole buddha is an expression of compassion the dalai lama the room certainly has some vibrations i'm staying in the room so they said that dalai lama stayed in that room so there is even the scarf the tanka scarf it's that's still there so the dalai lama if you see the whole tibetan buddhist theory is the 14th dalai lama why is this enlightened person coming again and again suppose you believe all of that the 14th time has come again a human body again all the troubles you know and i think few dalai lamas have faced more more trouble than this present one you know this terrible thing in politics and all why so the bodhisattva takes a vow of compassion i shall work until every sentient being realizes it is one with infinity or its own buddha nature this this clear light of the void swami vivekananda says it may be that i shall see fit to give up this body but i shall not cease to work i shall continue to inspire men everywhere until the whole universe knows that it is one with god that is one with brahman this have infinite endless awareness so though it may seem strange this fulfillment this expansion it's a vast expansion beyond this limits of this body of mind then you don't even care a little bit but his expression is all usually not always usually it is compassion usually it is love usually it is service why say why did you say not always because there always there are no rules for such people enlightened beings some may just seem to be a madman some may just seem to be ascetic in a mountain cave who knows yes this question is from anandiji pranam swamiji you had once explained how holy mother transitioned between paramarthika and vewaharika levels please could you give us some pointers on that transition between paramartic and viva from this perspective no need the vehicle transactional empirical is actually collapsed into the paramartha everything is paramatic everything is absolute for you even when you are walking and talking and working and helping eating how can eating be absolute reality isn't it that yes let me keep the awareness aside for the time being and take care of the rice and the dal and and then put it into my mouth how can i do that if i'm always light shining but what do you chant don't worry i know lunch is right there if you feel hungry we are conditioned like pavlov's dogs you know the ring of the bell the chant of the mantra we the what does that mean we chant it so it is from the vedic sacrifice is the wooden spoon the ladle with which ghee offerings were given into the fire with accompanied by the chanting of mantras the whole thing is now a ritual the common vedic ritual of ancient vedic indians is now spiritualized brahma padam that ladle is brahm an infinite in our language infinite light infinite awareness brahma the ghee is not ghee shankaracharya is commentary i recommend that you read he says it's not a ladle it is infinite light it is not ghee it is infinite light from ahabi brahmagno into the fire of brahman it is not fire shankaracharya says it is infinite light it is brahman brahman means infinity and what kind of infinity this awareness we are talking about this infinite awareness infinite light who is doing it the priest not a priest infinite light brahms they alone will attain realize themselves as infinite light brahma karma who see this infinite light in activities vehicle in all mundane activities not just meditation not just retreat in administration in driving in cooking in study in service in politics in war in the battlefield of kurukshetra who see light and only infinite light they alone will attain to that infill they will realize themselves as infinite light yes so the highest perspective is the holy mother actually does not make a distinction for her her entire focus is sri ramakrishna that infinite light and she sees everybody else she says i see it sri ramakrishna alone in the form of all these beings and he alone is suffering who is suffering the lord alone is suffering in all these beings and so i must worship the lord and there she here she does it with food offerings and mantras there she does it with diksha and advice and blessings and love same thing yeah as long as we make a distinction between paramatic and viva harika we are still it is not complete yet next question i'll come to you next uh next question comes from shivaji swamiji is attention also one of the karunas or is it called awareness attention is the focusing of awareness through an effort in the karana it's actually takes an effort of the mind it's like a narrow beam so notice we can shift our attention we not notice our attention shifting from thing to thing when i say look at this what am i draw asking you to do to attend to this and that's an action where is this action in awareness there is no action it's the action of the mind so it the mind focuses on this and it is illuminated by the ever-present awareness so awareness attention is an activity of the mind but it focuses awareness in another sense deeper sense awareness is always attentive awareness is always attentive to whatever is present we may call it distraction but that's also an appearance in awareness awareness is attending to that yeah awareness is always attentive if awareness lose i'm not joking partial only half serious if awareness loses attention the universe would disappear if you do not attend to your dream what will happen to the dream you are dreaming suppose you say fall asleep and don't dream anymore what happened to the dream gone if brahman does not attend to the dream of the universe we will all disappear in a blink it will all be gone in an instant that is called bhairava drishti again in kashmir shaivism third eye of the bhairava opening avinav gupta gives almost terrifying description in the flames he says in the flames of mahabodha in the the final flames of the universe so in the mythology we know at the end of the universe the shiva the destroyer will come and the dance of the thunder and in the final flames of destruction the cosmos will disappear but that is the spiritual meaning and it can happen right now what are the final flames of this is the final flames enlightenment is seen as the final conflagration where everything is reduced to awareness how can i do that now sounds dangerous where we not warned about fire hazard yeah huge hazard universe will disappear what is that what we did just now look at the flower nothing other than patch of color patch of color is nothing other than seeing seeing is nothing other than awareness seeing color flower have all disappeared now awareness alone and yet same thing we're seeing this is called the mahabhauda the final flames of of conflagration of the destruction of the universe abhinava gupta uses the term prashama prasama means pacification pacification of the universe yet you go on seeing the same thing it's pacified you see it as consciousness only as awareness only see it means know it as awareness only one more next one is from punamji self is pointed out as being perceivable only through pure intellect how does increasing the satwa in the mind help us in god realization yeah so tomorrow i will speak about it how does increasing sattva help us in realizing this but today we are in a different mood dull mind restless mind peaceful mind dull mind tamasica mind restless mind rajasika mind peaceful mind satwika mind but do one thing even for one instant restless mind will not permit from more than a few instance even for one instant notice that it is a restlessness to and to awareness is the awareness restless no notice that it is dull i did not mention it it is to you the awareness that waking dreaming deep sleep appear what can be more dull than deep sleep absolutely but you are adquescent dull tamasika that is lit up by the same pure light of awareness which you are right now in the meditation retreat i mean hopefully everybody is satwik that's why we're losing saturday we're getting hungry now slowly so from this perspective whatever the mind is don't worry about trying to make it more satwik the direct way is to even in that restless mind if it permits you for two seconds also notice that it is appearing to a non-restless awareness people have said in deepest suffering in deepest misery unhappiness disappointment there is always a sense of witness of something which is not miserable unhappy or disappointed let me see if i can find it yesterday somebody sent to me a piece of literature from from the existentialist albert camus i'm sure he was not speaking about gouda pad or advaita but if i can find it it's exactly relevant here yes i found it this is a quote from albert kamu in the midst of hate i found there was within me an invincible love in the midst of tears i found there was within me an invincible smile in the midst of chaos i found there was within me an invincible calm i realized through it all that in the midst of winter i found there was within me an invincible summer and that makes me happy for it says no matter how hard the world pushes against me within me there is something stronger something better pushing right back albert camo the existentialist yeah i'm sure he was not writing about vedanta but it's an instinct within us yes so this is the answer from today's perspective very high himalayan perspective tomorrow will be more practical when we sum up things i will speak about disciplines to make the mind more satwik and helpful for meditation yes good question question is this let me see if i can repeat it back um the drikdrisha viveka seems to be easier to separate the subject from the object but in what we did today reducing the object back into the subject so for example the yellow flower we are supposed to see it as a patch and nothing other than the patch there's no separate flower apart from the patch and the patch has nothing apart from seeing and the seeing is nothing apart from awareness and the awareness seems to be choiceless because always there and choicelessness also goes with lack of control because choiceless means you don't choose this over that and yet i cannot make the yellow patch into a red patch i cannot it has appeared as a yellow patch i must see it when it appears as a red patch i must see the red patch when it appears as sound i must hear the sound i cannot convert the sound into a flower flower into something else all that degree of freedom is not there in that case so if that is so yes that is so in that case how is how can i say that these things do not have independent realities seeing that they have their autonomy their power and their certain freedom certain power over me the ability to make me see this doesn't it show that there is a thing outside question have i fairly done this all right now see when we follow this up these are some of the obscurations that come up one is the obscuration of free will another is the obscuration of preference of obscuration of control free will preference control these are deeply associated with myself as a subject whether i have those powers or not i would like to have them i would like to have freedom to choose i would like to have some control over things and i have preferences likes and dislikes so with the preferences i would like to exercise my control by power to change things into from the less preferred to the more preferred and so on this is the samsaric subject it is called a pramata unknower notice how the mind has crept into awareness free will nobody till now has been able to explain what exactly free will is because philosophically it's deeply contradictory from the perspective of science which is hard determinism there can be no free will in religion this only way it is reconciled is putting all free will in god's sands and we surrender ultimate truth suramar krishna also says only god has free will it is only this samsaric individual i the person who have a sense of free will and a desire to exercise that free will where does the desire come from a set of likes and dislikes where are those likes and dislikes in the mind now so likes and dislikes preference is not in the witness consciousness it's in the mind the notion of free will is not in the witness consciousness it's in the mind the notion of control not in the witness consciousness is in the mind witness consciousness filtered through the mind assumes these notions and to some extent tries to exercise free will and power and control and choice it is not something associated with the witness control with witness consciousness okay that's number one number two even so you might argue still this appearance seems to be entirely autonomous comes and goes it is independent of the mind in the sense that the mind has no say in many things about this but here is the point advaita vedanta sticks only to reality and the reality is this thing would not exist without you the awareness its entire existence is dependent on you the awareness its arising is entirely dependent on you the awareness its setting is entirely dependent on you the awareness at no point in its brief existence is it at all in any way different from you the awareness so it is not that it is a reality apart from you no way can it be a reality apart from you it's a reality you are the reality of this thing still what about preference what about control what about free will they are in the mind preferences now focus on the preference the preference itself has no existence from apart from you the awareness notice preferences are not hard and fast they are different from different people and they're different in your own case also in your own mind through its evolution has multiple preferences and continuously changing but at no point are those preferences anything different from you the consciousness you the witness consciousness is no point is the notion of free will even the actual exercise of the so-called free will anything different at any point apart from you the consciousness it's only the preferences free will choice desire for control in relation to the appearance they seem to be interacting they seem to gain autonomy there's a fight either i will control it or it's out of my control but both of them appear and disappear in you the choiceless awareness try to stay with that very hard test and push back is this one teacher said anything that is not there in deep sleep is not worthy of your attention he says it is just stuff and nonsense it is just stuff that you the divine child you play the toys you play with not important for us in a state of ignorance deep sleep is blankness nothing is there the only worthwhile thing that is ever there is they are in deep sleep as they here right now the rest of it is that very thing appearing in these ways that's the whole teaching of mandu kyopanishan waking waker's waker and waker's world dreamer and dreamer's world deep sleeper and deep sleepers darkness they all appear and disappear in youth ethereum including the so-called preferences free will desire control in the waking state you can see if you look at it this vast panorama how tiny they become waking state objects seem to have an autonomy over the waking state perceiver and there's always a tussle going on how much of it can i control and how much of it outside my control but if you look at it from the turia perspective notice even in the dream where subject and object are both imagined inside you there are certain things which you cannot control or change or you know even if your preferences the preferences choice and activity belong to the dream subject but the actual dreamer is beyond both it generates both of them along with its so-called preferences so-called free will and all of that yeah and then beyond that is the thorium yes we'll end with this yes there is a this is a debate in epistemology in the very ancient epistemology it says so the determination of the epistemic object depends on the epistemic the sensor the instrument who determines it the initial idea might be flower determines how you see it but a deeper understanding of vision is my eyes and sensory system determine what i see of the flower that's a deeper understanding it's the same old zen joke flag is moving no no no wind is moving no no no minds are moving and finally no tongues are moving too much you remember the joke all right on that very zen note let us conclude this session [Music] namaste

Channel: Vedanta Society of New York

Views: 294,894

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: l3vddQwxA48

Length: 99min 27sec (5967 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 01 2021