Song of Astavakra by Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] a sir Thomas at gamma yo Thomas Omar to tier gamma Richard mom written gamma Shanti Shanti Shanti [Music] Oh leaders from the Unreal - the real leaders from darkness into light leaders from death to immortality ohm peace P P good evening everybody and what a joy it is to be back here in Santa Barbara I always feel when I come back here and marvel at how powerful the elements are here you know the sky and the wind and the water and yes fire and the earth there's that they are all expressions of the divine the tide till you finish it tells us how the sky and the earth and the fire and the water and the wind they all emerge from the absolute so they are all expressions of the divine and you can really see that play and their glory here in this place especially here at the Vedanta temple it was here that I think nearly three years ago two or three years ago I spoke on ashtavakra for the first time and today again I'm going to speak about ashtavakra but there's a particular background to this talk today's talk what happened was this Swami Yogananda who is now 96 years old in our Trabuco monestery I heard he was doing much better now he had been doing poorly but now he's feeling much better and we are glad for that about forty years ago so I mean yo Gatien and them was in the our Ganges retreat which is near Chicago and there as a young monk wait a minute not so young even 40 years ago he was 56 or 57 so that's how old he is at that time they had an extraordinary visitor one of our Swami's Swami initiation energy came from South Africa and I have never had the privilege of meeting with him but many of our senior monastics monks and nuns have met him and many devotees senior devotees and have actually met him and by all accounts he was an extraordinary personality a great Sanskrit scholar a great meditator a mystic a devotee and a dedicated naturopath he was fond of cold compresses or something that that's other thing I gathered he would at the age of 90 he would do his headstands hatha yogi I heard from a reliable source that he had a range of even a range of occult powers so a very interesting Swami for one gentleman I met in New York who had met Swami initiations and during his travels in the United States in the 80 70s when he first came here this gentleman was arranging for the visit and he said Swami we need to get some medical insurance arranged for you and the Swami said don't bother I will not die there I know when and where I'm going to die so this is that kind of person now he came visiting the Ganges a retreat about 40 years ago and Swami Yogananda was there and he started giving classes above all these things whatever I've said above all these things he was an extraordinary teacher I have come across a few of his writings and actually I've used some of his ideas and the way he has taught them so in scattered across many of my talks you will find things that borrowed from initial shanties classes whatever few articles and writings have come across so when he started teaching yoga Shannon dig' he saw this is a great thing so it should be preserved so he started taking notes and unfortunately there were no recordings of that times which started taking notes and later on he thought this should be published and he did publish it and that's something that most people do not know that I think maybe that's a booklet which is available only in the Ganges retreat what happened was I went there to give a retreat last year and I saw in their books a it's a little book sales counter this book was just called notes I think notes and reflections for going for a $1 and they were just over two or three copies available I think so I purchased one and then I started reading it lot of insights but what is pertinent for today is the second point which he makes they're just scattered points if you know a lot of Atlanta and yoga and Indian philosophy they are really profound but even without that the insights are all very useful the second point there and again there are little diagrams to interesting little diagrams it seems that initiation G is to use a blackboard and chalk and draw diagrams so the second point there in that little booklet it says other than you there is no God and no Jeeva no Ishwar and no Jeeva Jeeva means the sentient being us I am a sentient being we know that we are individuals he says other than you the consciousness there is no individual being no sentient being no Jeeva and no God either what is God and what is a sentient being the individual they are nothing other than you to understand this he gives them they gets the reference so this is a translation of ashtavakra chapter 15 verse number 16 and then he says to understand read ashtavakra chapter 15 verse number 4 up to this verse 16th worse and then he leaves it there so I read that but I went back and I started reading and I found in what is already a very powerful work the ashtavakra this is an extraordinarily powerful sequence so from fourth verse of 15 chapter to the sixteenth verse of 15 chapter an extraordinarily powerful sequence so those of you have a copy of ashtavakra do go and take a look I decided to speak about it and I did a couple of retreats and so today what I'm going to do I'm not going to do all those verses from the forth were still the sixteenth verse there won't be enough time it takes several hours to do that but I'll lay the foundation and if you're interested you can follow up later the essential foundation are laid here are laid to data the fourth fifth sixth and seventh verses that will be what we will talk about this evening but many of us we know what - Nava crazy it's the conversation between Janaka and Emperor and who loved Vedanta and the non-dual philosophy and ashtavakra a very strange and wonderful sage an enlightened master who teaches Janaka and it's their conversation one can sell it's literally the highest the final the ultimate text of Advaita Vedanta the ultimate text of non-dual philosophy you see when you look about look at texts of non-dual philosophy the fundamental text the root texts the source material or what we call the Upanishads so the Upanishads they are literally Vedanta is the open oceans and all those teachings including ashtavakra teachings are ultimately derived from there so they are they are the things which have to be studied and understood and there are texts many many other texts best based on these open ishod's in fact the well-known Bhagavad Gita which is one text if you want to know all the texts of Hinduism one text which everybody knows about is the bhagavad-gita that's also entirely based on the Upanishads Shri Krishna in fact sometimes verbatim quotes from the Upanishads in the bhagavad-gita but there were many many tech texts written notably by Shankar Acharya and his followers to expound the philosophy and the way of non-dual Vedanta right of a rant so these are called plucker Anna's some of them are introductory texts which introduce you to the whole of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy the entire system some of them are we introduced it as to a part or an aspect of the entire philosophy some of them are dialectical ceiebrate the Vedanta is to be practiced in three stages Shravana mannan an idiot the asana first Ravana literally means listening but actually it means systematically studying with the help of a teacher you've studied the Upanishads and other texts with the help of a teacher and then mañana mañana means reasoning cogitation thinking it out understanding it thinking about it contemplating the teachings what you have studied now think about it make it a part of your understanding so there are texts which are dialectical in nature Advaita Sidhe Jitsu ki kund anaconda katya somebody called them brain friars all the questions you could think about every skeptical argument you could put forward and many many more which we would never even think about they are all put up there and they're discussed threadbare so those are highly intellectual very subtle very very dependent on on logic and debate so that's one category of text and then the third stage is needed asana which is vedantic may or non-dual meditation where what you have studied the information the wisdom that we have gathered what we have now argued out and convinced we have got clarity about it and yet we might say it still feels intellectual it still feels a particularly clever philosophy but how to make it real so that how to make it real that's the last stage where we assimilate the teachings make it living in our lives that's called needed gas and a pedantic meditation there are a few texts very few which at least I feel are entirely about Vedantic meditation needed the asana based texts and this ashtavakra is the best example there are others also for example our do togheter is another one our star chris the most well-known of them how is it unique ashtavakra is not teaching is not even really it's not it really about teaching it already presumes some knowledge of philosophy or Vedanta there is no argument there there's a surah bakra is not interested in persuading us of something no argument no attempt at debate no attempted really raising questions and arguing it out no no no all that's done finished by Rome in his beautiful translation of ashtavakra heart of awareness he likes a very luminous introduction where he says after all the philosophies and the scriptures and the religions of the world have had their say and fallen silent ashtavakra begins he says the words are so luminous it's almost as if they appear on the paper and they disappear almost immediately there he says notice the language of her stav atia it is so simple it's Sanskrit but very simple Sanskrit it's simple direct he does not say many things at all in fact he does not even say two things he says only one thing and that he says again and again and again throughout the text in fact it's very homogenous if you open the book at any point and look at a tech look at a verse you will get the same feeling at all throughout it's just saying one thing so this is vedantic meditation if you read the text quietly in an environment like this and slowly really really slowly it's equal to meditation it's equal to the highest meditation it's pointing out our reality the supreme reality the reality of this universe what we truly are it's just pointing out pointing it out again and again and again drawing our attention back to it again and again and again so it's vidonne teknon dual meditation and the 15 chapter is really power excellence so what does it say the fourth words where the sequence starts really in the 15 chapter it goes like this we'll do the fourth and the fifth together it goes like this not from the whole not a dae-ho bow curtana Bob Pavan she drew possi cigar Sakshi near a picture so come Chara you are not the body neither is the body yours you are not an experiencer nor are you a doer an agent of action Oh thou pure consciousness ever the witness never the witnessed to ever the witness independently freely live in this world interact with everything the second verse the fifth verse says raga do a human odor mo na monastic add Archana nearly culpa see both hotma nirakara so come Chara mind so I am I the mind alright I'm not the body but I'm I don't mind likes and dislikes and attraction and aversion and ideas and memories all of that they are features or characteristics of the mind the mind has nothing to do with you you are of the nature of consciousness yourself the self is consciousness alone both hotma it is awareness both this awareness is your awareness alone nearly culpa beyond any thought construct your beyond any thought construct any idea any conception your awareness pure awareness alone and serenely what do you do sit in Samadhi no do thou live life so come Chara interact dark smell taste touch go about your business serenely near weak are so what has been said here let's dwell a little bit on this you are not the body not is the body thine now often we say any thoughtful grown-up person we don't really say that I am flesh and blood and bone no but we do feel that this body is mine am somewhere Here I am embodied we do feel that and this body is mine in some sense and this is where ashtavakra he gives this pointer let's dwell on this there are many ways in a greater in Advaita Vedanta all of them are pointers which shows us clearly that we are not the body I will give you three now let's let's use three of these pointers why am i calling them pointers when we listen to them they sound like arguments persuasion which they are they are based on experience and logic their powerful extraordinary arguments actually what considering an understanding but more than arguments the point is not to persuade us of this idea that - but more than that to show us like if I show you here is the Pacific Ocean it's not an argument I'm showing you directly look and so these three which I will share with you these three which we will talk about they are pointers which literally show us if you dwell on it you will have to say yes it is true I I cannot be this thing so what are these pointers one of them says that what you experience cannot be you as simple as what I can see with my eyes must be different from my eyes my eyes are the seer and what they see must be different it's literally true the only thing that the eyes cannot see other eyes themselves literally if you just feel it it's not an argument consist see whatever you can see is outside is apart from the eyes it could be very small take a microscope it could be very far take up telescope but it is the distance from the eyes in fact the limit of the vision are the eyes themselves if you're thinking I can see my eyes in the mirror that's a reflection of the eyes you can't see the eyes the way the eyes see this you can't see the eyes themselves like that you can't you cannot you can take a picture of your eyes a selfie but that will still be a picture that will you are not seeing the eyes the eyes are not seeing themselves directly so what sees is different from what is seen that's literally true of the eyes and the objects of the eyes but if you look closer if you consider the eyes themselves you are aware we are aware of our own eyes eyes are open not closed or or a ter me I need glasses all these things about the eyes are known by the mind the mind now is the knower and the eyes are known are you with me have to walk with me on this one so we have taken a step back earlier it was the eyes and the world outside clearly the eyes are different from the world that they see in a very naive a simple way now you take the eyes themselves notice it what I am saying as an argument but also as a pointing to our real experience stabilize let me have to stabilize ourselves in our experience to really feel it eyes also are known these things they are known experienced by us I cannot see too well I need glasses or whatever I cannot keep my eyes open or I can see very well all these facts about the eyes are known by the mind the mind is the seer and the eyes are seen here seeing of course is figuratively within quotes literally the mind doesn't see my nose and we notice once again the mind is different from the eyes - whatever it is it's difference not the eyes that's why your ophthalmologist is different from your therapist yes the mind itself we are aware of the states of our mind thoughts feelings emotions ideas likes dislikes disturbed mind peaceful mind desirous mind satisfied or frustrated mind we are all intensely and directly aware of the states of our mind if we are aware of the states of our mind we eye whatever there is that one which is aware of the mind which experiences the states of the mind that must be the knower the seer and the mind becomes the scene the external world out there is always the scene and the eyes are the seer but the eyes themselves can be both the seer and the seen the eyes are seen by the mind the mind is seen by what we want the calls the witness the awareness what are you what am i I am always on the side I am always the seer I am always on the side of the seer the experiencer never on the side of the experienced I mean just look at your own experience when you are looking at me here you are staring at me where do you put yourself you always put yourself there and you are looking at me when you experience the eyes opening up the eyes and closing up the eyes where do you put yourself not at the side of the eyes you put yourself in there looking out at the eyes when you consider introspect into your mind look at the thoughts and feelings in the mind which we can do immediately and when we try to do it people there's no such Swami and we are always bugged by thoughts all the time but the mind is so peculiar when you want to see a thought the minds fall silent all right you're aware of the thoughts in the mind and we are aware of the absence of thoughts in the mind the absence of thoughts in the mind is also something that we report so that is the mind and somewhere in there suckler than the mind inner to the mind I am the seer of the mind then what will be my nature because remember the world is out there of objects the eyes and the body is here the mind up which is suckling full of thoughts that is there and beyond that I am so I cannot be an object I cannot be a physical body I cannot be even be a thought they have all been left behind and I am experiencing if I'm experiencing if I am aware of these things then my nature must be awareness that is the least thing I can say and awareness unchanging awareness say hey wait a minute appeared logician a careful thinker he said where did you get that unchanging where did you get that awareness because I experienced I must be awareness correct but where did you get that unchanging well logic shows it if there is a change I am aware of it then the change is an object which I am aware of I the one who is aware the witness must be apart from the change so it's not higher I do not change did you follow that it's a it's a clever bit of you might say it's your just being clever but it's actually true if you look at it if I am aware of a change then it's an object of my awareness and I am V awareness and that what you are aware of and the one that which is aware the two must be separate seer and seen are separate so every change if you're even going to talk about it if we are going to conceive of it it must be an object or awareness it cannot be the awareness itself so it's an unchanging awareness which means that awareness is not born the body is born that awareness does not die he does it does not age the body ages it is not even frustrated happy or sad it's the mind which is frustrated or satisfied happy or sad awareness just is it is the witness so it must be different from that which is witnessed it you the awareness I the awareness I cannot be the body I cannot be the mind that's one pointer in sanskrit it is called drake drishya the the method of the seer and the seen I am the seer body seem mind is seeing even the intellect which we are using right now to understand this is still it still thought it's still thinking it's also seeing experienced that's one pointer and therefore I cannot be the body the body must be something apart from me another pointer second pointer which is quite subtle and very interesting and seems to be related to the first one second pointer is to do with the nature of awareness itself I always experience myself as awareness and whatever I experience I experience as an object of awareness it works these words in Sanskrit are very precise chit gerrae Gyrich it means consciousness notice whatever you think about yourself you always put awareness on your side not on the side of of the object you are aware of it at this point somebody might say what about the people next to me I'm aware of them but they are also aware they are their consciousness but note that the people next to us we are sitting here right now we are aware of their bodies and their language and that behavior if you happen to be a telepath I hope not but if you happen to be a telepath you'll still be aware of their thoughts but you'll never be aware of their awareness does it make sense if we understand what awareness is within us we will see we can never be of awareness anywhere else except in the mind and through that we are aware of our own minds we are aware of the body we are aware of the external world we're aware of other people and we make an inference just as I am aware in here they must be aware they're also in that body but we don't directly experience their awareness we experience the effects of that awareness and that leads to a lot of interesting philosophy the whole question of other minds the whole possibility of you know we are discussing artificial intelligence how do we know because you see all that you can know about the machine is that it can emulate it can imitate intelligence but what we are really interested in is in there as I feel awareness and intelligence and thinking does the machine feel that in there there's no proof of that not even the most ambitious Google or Facebook engineer will say that the the self-driving car or the computer or even the Internet is aware in some sense in there no but it makes it does a very good job of imitating awareness this the second method is called chit Jarrah I am always aware and that which I'm aware of is not aware it's an object and sentient and that that which I am aware of his in sentient very simple look at the body any part of the body you look at the hand a psychologist gregg goode says you look at the hand and you look at the hand let me ask you I am aware of the hand this is this is the feeling that we get on which side is awareness is awareness there or here and will always say here I am aware of that the hand doesn't say hello how are we doing these days no that would creep you out it would be really weird that never happens which is so what so this that not only this hand but so it's true of this hand and of the legs and the tummy and the whole body it's a collection of parts which we are aware of none of those parts individually or in combination is aware of me I am aware of it it's subtle point we have to walk together notice it's a simple point and easily noticed I am aware of the body the body is not aware of me whatever I am and the same thing applies to the mind and that's very interesting because in modern consciousness studies people do not distinguish between mind and consciousness if you ask what are you studying oh they'll say we're studying consciousness give me some examples sinking feeling remembering desiring preferences and all kinds of mental events and perceptions and all of that that's consciousness but no adroit Vedanta sees examine the contents of our minds what we call the mind whatever you call the mind examine it and when you notice a thought notice of thought notice this on which side is awareness are you aware of the thought or is the thought aware of you we've never thought in this way you think about it just think I give the example of 2+2 4 or you can just think ABCD whatever 2+2 4 just think 2 plus right now I can try it 2+2 4 what does it feel like I am aware of 2+2 4 obviously 2+2 4 is a thought is an is a silly like a mental talk the 2+2 4 is not aware of me it doesn't say hello we haven't met a long time it doesn't look at me it's not aware of me as the one who is thinking the thought is not aware of the thinker the thinker is aware of the thought consciousness is on our side on your side not on the side of the thought it's so clear to us when you think in this way the thought is an object to consciousness you are aware before 2+2 4 you are aware of 2+2 4 when it comes up and when it disappears you're aware of the absence of 2+2 4 it was never at any point aware of you it's when you put it in that language it sounds so clear and sounds silly to even say that so even thought is in sentient it appears to be sentient because you are shining upon it by your light thought is lit up that's my thought appears to be conscious and the consciousness studies experts start studying thought but thought is also an object to you in sentient and you are the sentient the the awareness the consciousness shining on the thought alright then if I am that clearly the in sentient and the sentient cannot be the same thing I cannot be my thoughts I cannot be the thoughts 3-pointers quickly looking back okay we've done to one more one more it's a old one we have seen earlier also notice all the changes in the body the body is a series of changes the baby and the little boy or girl the teenager the young person the middle-aged person the the senior person the body changes so much the body changes so much and we really know it and yet I feel that body which was so different the child's body the baby's body in some sense I was there I was that one and I was the the child's body and I was the teenagers his body I was in the middle-aged body and maybe I'm here in the senior body if I feel a unity of awareness of being there in ever-changing body then I the unchanging and the changing body it cannot be the same thing they'll they're mutually opposed changing and unchanging cannot be the same thing in sanskrit it is called savvy cara near weak are savvy cara means with modification what is with modification body what is without modification i the sense of self and that was changing and unchanging they cannot be the same so i cannot be the body much less can i be the mind the mind changes so much since this morning till now how many times curious how many times bored time's happy how many times irritated how many times wanting something how many times relaxed and satisfied how many times many thoughts have come and gone since this one morning and all throughout our lives so many things just imagine look it's very interesting to think that maybe decades ago when I was a schoolboy what sort of thoughts went to the mind at that time so very different so alien to the thoughts now that means the mind has changed so much in yet I think I was there and I am here so I cannot be this is this ever-changing fast changing mind because I am nirakara unchanging and the mind is savvy car is subject to ever subject to change the body is subversive acara subject to change I cannot be the body I cannot be the mind putting it together the first pointer was because I am the experiencer the seer and the seer and the seen are different I the experiencer and the body which is the experienced I cannot be the body I the experiencer and the mind thoughts feelings perceptions I are the personality my memory my story this is all experienced so I cannot be that your story which I love of the person who's complained to among Swami I'm so unhappy do you feel your unhappiness yes if you feel your unhappiness you can't be unhappy I mean just look at the good spot and the Jewish word is there we think it's a convincing argument I'm unhappy because I feel it and the case rests there I am unhappy because I feel unhappy and Vedanta has the the cheek to say that because you feel unhappy you can't be unhappy why because you are experiencing it it's a thing never I mean let it be a mental thing but it's still a thing and you their awareness who experience it it's quite quite interesting it's an experienced object it must be different from you the experiencer the CR and seen a different drink this year that's why you can be cannot be the mind either the second pointer sentient in sentient Jarrah that's why I am always awareness in whatever situation and what I am aware of does not have awareness I am different awareness and it's object must be different they are nests and not awareness this is very close if you think about it to the first pointer but the difference is there there it is seer and seen here we are talking about aware and not aware the third one is simpler it's our intuition that in an ever-changing body mind and the not changing even the the unity of the self across time so I the unchanging cannot be the changing body I the unchanging cannot be the ever-changing fast changing mind so I am NOT the body and not the mind nor is the body mind see even the thought my body it's a thought it's a thought the moment I clip my nails just one instant then what falls out is not my body anymore till that point it was mine won't a clip it not mine breathe in whatever is in their mind breathe out not mine obviously this is just a play of the mind it cannot be the body is is not mine either it's not me it's not mine and if I am NOT the body then what am i a straw a crisis she drew you are awareness sadawa Sakshi ever the witness never the witnessed but very interesting ever the witness there's a subtle message there when we talk about witness immediately we think about witnessing like a I'm neutral sitting up apart and watching yes I'm watching my mind I am now the witness I'm watching the world out there and the witness I am watching the body and the witness and immediately the complaint will be Swami when I try to do that it's nice I feel calm and serene but I can't be the witness all the time the moment I get busy in life that thing disappears that is not ever the witnessed that's just a practice of the mind that's not what ashtavakra is talking about not trying to be the witness not trying to be the witness the Swami in the Himalayas who was teaching this and he said now two monks now all monks do you feel that you're the witness and among said yes yes you're going to fall into an especially big bit he said in Hindi both but I got dem agree okay you're going to fall into a big pit and the pit which you have dug yourself what is the pit that there is a technique by which I can be the witness witness and that's very nice I can become and the witness of the things which are happening in the world in the body and the mind uninvolved witness but that's just another thought that's just another thought what ashtavakra is talking about is much deeper you are ever the witness choicelessly is Krishnamurti use this Jiddu Krishnamurti love this phrase choiceless awareness that choiceless awareness which we are is ever the witness choicelessly so if I might say helplessly so when you are most involved in the world very busy very upset very excited most involved in the body mind in the world ashtavakra would insist you were the witness at that time also you just didn't recognize it you felt the witness was mixed up with the body mind and felt by error that you are tied somehow mixed up with the body and mind what is the connection between you the witness awareness and this body mind one teacher asked very interesting what died where is the connection what ties you and the answer was to PDT alone the only thing that ties is to this body we'll see as clarity dance you will see there is no connection between me and the body in mind and never was I am ever the witness not a practiced witness not a witness meditation which you can do which is a good practice for the mind but the pure awareness which we are that is not a practice thing it's not a product it's not an effect of lot of spiritual practice it's always there it would always you'd be ever the witness if you did not come to a single Vedanta class ever the witness sudah sarchie bhakta katana baba bond you are not the experienced a book that literally means the enjoyer or the sufferer it's only when I the awareness think of myself as the body and then I enjoy and suffer there is no other enjoyer and suffering apart from you the consciousness but you the consciousness in yourself and not the enjoyer or sufferer it's only an identification with the body that one enjoys or suffers is the screen which appears as the movie and the hero enjoys and suffers in the movie but the screen after all that hero in the movie the entire movie does not exist apart from the screen the screen lends substance to that and yet you cannot say that the screen is enjoying or suffering or what tragedy the hero undergoes so much suffering is the screen undergoing suffering not at all it's absolutely unconcerned but it makes possible the movie the hero and his or her suffering all of that is made possible because of the awareness which we are so you are not the experiencer no experience goes on with body and mind you appear to be the experience of as awareness you are the background where even though experience is going on we have it leaves no trace upon us we are not affected by it and we are not the doer nakata it's only in in relation to the body you say the the hero in the movie does so many great deeds you know wonderful things fights against the villains and there's a car chase and many things are happening the hero is doing a lot and would you say the screen is doing a lot driving the car and fighting the villain no let's silly and yet without the screen none of that can happen so the awareness which we are in itself is not a doer and why is this important because this connects ashtavakra runs very deep each of these verses if you take apart the whole of advaitha philosophy comes up disconnects that to the law of karma if we are not the doer then I'm not the doer of action even the action is taking place I the awareness I do not get the results of action also the results of karma will by which we are bound in samsara do not apply to me the tour to you the tour do it neither non doer the awareness to use the Nandu Nandu er awareness then what do you do what what does what comes of all of this what will be the result do you retreat into a forest and stay in meditation some people feel I am the emptiness the awareness and so this is an end of life it's not an end of life near apeksha sukham Chara Chara means literally it means walk around it means interact with the world you can see and hear and smell and taste and touch you can work and love and and go out into the world and do things and indeed also you can be draw and meditate you can do all of that so come near apeksha happily freely need a picture literally means not dependent on the world anymore the screen I like the screen analogy is not dependent on anything in the movie where the movie is entirely dependent on the screen and its ashtavakra is telling you the screen happily play movies play movies all day long let the movie of this life go on enjoy it Swami Vivekananda said he no more then how body lives or dies let karma float it down so do I have to commit suicide then I'm enlightened no no no let karma float it down Karma the universe will have its it's an appearance in you it's a movie playing in you the screen of awareness let it do its thing its enjoyment for you now it's art for you it's it's entertainment for you now nearly cara sukham Charo in the second fourth fifth verse also he says serenely go through life in order to withdraw from life one great teacher put it very beautifully see there are these two attitudes to life once we entered spirituality one is the attitude of trying to wipe out the experience of life samsara is painful no it's not it's a lot of fun it's so it's a party very good that's an even lower stage which is alright go ahead and party after some time kicks and blows problems disappointments old age coming fast the world moving ahead leaving me behind my party is at an end then what happens no I must go and listen to a Vedanta talk now what the Swami is telling me sounds nice there's Brahmin yeah I don't like this world let it disappear it's my arm it's here that let me erase this world I will stay only with my my nature is pure consciousness it's an attempt to erase the world that's an attempt in spiritual life and that's that's a neo geek attitude the yogi the Patanjali yogi seeks peace and serenity in the depths of Samadhi in absorption where the world experience is erased from that particular Yogi's awareness in Samadhi yoga chitta vritti nirodh aha' Yoga is the cessation of all the modifications of the mind if you do that the world will disappear from you your body will disappear from you your mind personality the whole little person will disappear and there is the vastness of peace but ashtavakra says no no no one teacher said this very nicely he says in Hindi add the weight pathetic of me tetani advaitha does not seek to raise the world appearance then what does advaitha non-duality do he says in Hindi Advaita Provera harmony robot Van Atta non-dualism makes you do bad hardware put it in English new mod means without obstruction without any any any problem any limitation we're in the era harder in life in this transactional reality which we inhabit enlightened unenlightened non dual non duelist duelists alike we all inhabit a world of appearance the Duelist will call it a real world you and the non duelist you may call it an unreal appearance you can call it a movie but still their parents continues and what the non-dualistic waiter does is it makes you live effortlessly freely your body literally means without any limitation all this is an expression of you yourself does anything in the movie limit the screen no it cannot anything in the movie damage the screen it is an explosion will the screen blow up a fire will the screen catch fire a flood deluge will the screen get wet no none of that the screen runs unscathed through fire and hail storms and deluges and earthquakes without having this least effect it's not affected in the same way non-duality enables us to live here in this life with eyes open acting in this world with absolute freedom and serenity you don't seek to erase this world experience so is that it no what our starter is saying is just the first it's just the beginning this is the opening theme it's not yet non-duality notice what he has done and not the body not the mind I am awareness now this leaves two questions one is there's so many bodies and minds how many awarenesses each body and mind a separate awareness and and I am awareness then I am separate as we just said from body mind world so how is it non-dual it's full of dualities and pluralities earlier what we did was I stopped at the skin skin inwards I am outside the skin not me here I there the other that's what we did till now all the touched our class said so far is we have gone further even the body and the mind have been uttered and I am the witness consciousness awareness that's what we have done and this is an essential first step but now the really big step comes this next step where non duality is established ashtavakra says see here is the the thought goes like this the understanding goes like this I am awareness center in that awareness in which all experience is taking place is it like is this awareness like you know like light so there is light and there objects objects are existing in darkness light comes and illumines the objects so awareness is there the world outside and awareness goes out and lights up the world and gives us experience is it like that or are all the things that we experience in awareness you see the difference between things outside of awareness and awareness going like light and illumining it because I am light comes and reveals this there already existing separately it was in darkness now revealed by the light is awareness like that is there a huge universe out there and I the spark of awareness now I light up an already existing mind and a body in the world or is all that I experience in awareness Nash democracy's if you pay attention to your experience you will see all experience is in awareness there is no proof there is no proof if you see the only proof of the existence of anything would be experienced in some way it should be experienceable if it if you cannot experience a world outside awareness without awareness then we have no right to say that the world exists outside awareness I can argue this with you all night but just keep it in mind it runs counter to our way of thinking our way of thinking is there's a solid world out there and in that comes a kind of semi solid body body might I mean that comes up this kind of vague mind in which there is awareness and all of that emerges so it's a very materialistic paradigm which we have been taught but it's not true to our experience our experience is always we experience things in awareness all the objects the people and the things and the happenings of our life and our own body and our own thoughts they all arise in awareness shine in awareness and fade away in awareness so we have it's impossible to actually even conceive of something without awareness I see the words experience presupposes awareness conceiving presupposes awareness so all of that which we experience is in this field of awareness which we are and ashtavakra says further in awareness but what is the relationship of awareness to its objects are objects in awareness like we are in this temple so there is a temple is an empty space which accommodates all of us we are coming to this temple we are now in this space but we are not really part of this thing we can also leave we are separate entities accommodated in space here in this temple is it like that or are all that is experienced in awareness all that is seen in awareness are they somehow nothing other than awareness you see nothing other than awareness what I mean is two options I'm giving one is like all of us are in this space are objects in awareness like that or are objects in awareness like the waves in the ocean out there are in water if I say all the waves are in water what I really mean is not that water is like a space in which there are things called waves it is the water alone which appears as the waves thousands of waves which are coming up there in the in the Pacific out there they are arising in water playing around in water and merging back into the water before the wave comes it is water when the wave arises it is water when it plays around and rushes towards the shore it is water and when it disappears into form and spray it is water all through water yet appearing as if different from water or Stav Achra says that if you attend to outfit if we attend to our experience we will see all of this which we experience they are all in consciousness and not different from consciousness indeed it is consciousness alone which appears as its object notice in the first step we distinguished consciousness or awareness from the objects and the seer and that is the scene separate an awareness and that is not aware separate and unchanging and that is ever-changing separate now the separate changing objective seeing thing is now merged back into a vernest is recognized to be nothing other than awareness ashtavakra sees sarva bhootheshu cha aathmaanam salute on each out money wig yanira hunk near Mama's Tom Sookie I have a very beautiful verse it says in all beings I am as consciousness answering the first question how many consciousness is ashtavakra says one consciousness how we have a instinctive feeling we are different but ashtavakra advaitha would say why do we feel you are different clearly bodies are different clearly even if if you would see the minds the personalities are different so minds are different but we are not talking about body we're not talking about mind we are talking about the background awareness how would you differentiate the awareness see when we say one awareness or many awareness how do you say the awareness is one the adroit in ashtavakra turns the question around and says why would you say awareness is different how do you know something is different there must be some distinguishing characteristic the bodies are different how do you know count the minds are different how do you not do a psychological survey they will tell you different things and answers to psychology questions you can clearly see the minds are different our knowledge is different our attitudes are different so the minds are different clearly you can see that how would you demonstrate difference in awareness apart from body and mind if you think about it you will see there is no no answer to this there is no way of distinguishing pure awareness itself once we begin to understand the concept of pure awareness there is no way of distinguishing pure awareness from one body to body from mind to mind on this I am just leaving it there vast discussion is there the sound clear philosophers insist awareness is different in each body and mind and they'll give reasons they'll give reasons non-tourist shoots down those reasons let me see if you can shoot them some of those reasons let's see the sonken says no no no obviously we are different because the death of one is not the death of the other one person died the others are still alive so how can the awareness be the same in both persons what would you say this is a body that is quite obviously so you are already miles ahead of the sonken referre he says the sleep of one is not the sleep of the other one person is asleep other person's awake so how could you say awareness is the same there what would you say it's the mind that sleeps you see we often think oh he's not sleeping so he's sleeping so no no awareness there I'm awake so it is awareness here they cannot be the same no no no it's the mind which is awake is the mind which falls asleep and the whole idiotic idea of awareness being the witness of the sleeping mind also the blankness and deep sleep so awareness continues and it's the same a subtle point here our waking experiences are different we have all come from different places and they're going to have different experiences throughout the day our mental experiences in the mind our dreams are also different but is our deep sleep different your deep sleep his deep sleep her deep sleep my deep sleep is the experience different cannot be deep sleep is seen as a featureless blankness what comes before deep sleep and what comes after deep sleep will be different for each person but in deep sleep we all have the same blackness are nothing experience of nothingness now the consciousness so if the deep sleep what is experienced in deep sleep is the same how much more same would be the consciousness which experiences that sameness so the consciousness of deep sleep that awareness awareness is same in all bodies and minds and in that one awareness in fact of stava crisis like waves in the ocean all the beings of this universe they arise and play and disappear you are that one consciousness in which the entire universe arises plays and disappears as waves powerful verse the seventh verse which swims ferati at radom Teranga eva's augury that to me burn us and he Genma david guru baba that ocean in which the a universe emerges as waves you are that ocean the universe shines forth as waves in this not an ocean of water it's an ocean of consciousness so I must be a tiny part of that there are no parts there you are all of it you are all of it you are that that undivided ocean of consciousness of stava crisis in which the entire universe shines forth as a wave as one wave in which it exists in you plays in you and disappears back into you know thou art that that tois may vanish and they are there's no doubt about this all conscious Jin mu T is a very interesting term it's ezzio thou whose form is consciousness your farm is a man a woman there's a form of a tree and an ocean there these are forms what is our from my real form my real form is actually the formless it is consciousness thou that formless consciousness then what happens with Joro power be free of fever it's like we are leading life in a fevered state of excitement and depression and misery and anxiety Oh thou whose form is consciousness be free of fever just a little time left let us try to experience this we are experiencing it I'll draw our attention to what we are experiencing right now just think about this what I'm trying to what our stava cries saying I'm just trying to summarize in these few verses this is the basis of what's wrong initiations you pointed out note all the things which we experienced by things I mean anything from a cup of coffee to a human being to my job all of them I can call them objects of experience are you with me whatever we experience in life are the objects my experience stage one stage two the objects are not different from the experiences themselves what I mean by that is when you look at this cloth in this light you are having an experience this cloth is the object of your experience correct and what is your experience seeing the cloth now apart from you're seeing this cloth is that any other cloth here what I'm asking is is there an object called a cloth apart from your seeing it you're experiencing it is all that there is you are experiencing a cloth and that exhausts the description there is no other thing called a cloth apart from your it's just an experience what I'm saying is instead of talking about objects separately which are then experienced all we can talk about is we our life is experiences yeah are you with me so far I've reduced objects to experiences our life is just experiences one thing after another when somebody was in the conference in New York and they were talk one of the speaker's are talking about history and the definition of history he said best definition of history I've come across is it's one thing after another he used he used a curse word in between which I'm leaving out which I'm not supposed to use for one XYZ thing after another that is history one experience after another is that not our life and are those experiences anything different from awareness put it this way objects of experience living non living human non-human whatever it is they are all in experience nothing apart from it and then next all experiences are in awareness which you are nothing apart from the awareness just awareness colored in different ways shapes sounds touch thoughts feelings these are all coloring in awareness shades in awareness but it is all through and through awareness and awareness only consciousness and consciousness only and that thou art this universe is entirely nothing other than you these are objects which are nothing other than experience and experience nothing other than consciousness which you are that thou art and this consciousness which it is which you are which is not the body not the mind it is complete in itself what does it want nothing what could it want it is already everything that there is does it suffer ever no without it there is no suffering but it in itself does not suffer does it need anything to enjoy no without it there is no enjoyment but in its itself it does not need enjoyment does it need enlighten meant what do you think no no does it need worldly enjoyment no does it need to renounce worldly enjoyment no what will it renounce it is it is all that all those things are it already how can you renounce yourself does it need enlightenment no Shankar Acharya sings not heard mana chart tone a kimono moksha I do not want Dharma I do not want wealth I do not want pleasure I do not even want liberation why because I am this ocean of consciousness blissful consciousness i am shiva i am shiva chillin on the Rupa her shivoham shivoham so this is the foundation let us think about it ash dieback raised as direct as it gets there's nothing more to say after this as Byram said once you read this and the words like magic words to disappear from the the page and leave just the field of awareness which we are knowing this to be our real self all the time effortlessly always available as ashtavakra says succumb Chara let our let us lead our lives happily Suki Brava let us be happiness fulfillment with Joro bhava be forever free from the struggle which we call our personal little life Oh [Music] Shanti Shanti Shanti hurry Hume that's a Sri Ramakrishna rapport and must

Channel: Vedanta Society of Southern California

Views: 33,960

Rating: 4.8899589 out of 5

Keywords: Swami Sarvapriyananda, Santa Barbara, Vedanta, Astavakra

Id: d6eKWLM0mHE

Length: 66min 57sec (4017 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 29 2019