Swami Sarvapriyananda - I can't experience GOD

good morning says looking forward to see the faces of the brave souls who have braved the sudden cold for vedanta one of the qualifications for vedanta is titiksha where you put up with all that the world can throw at you the troubles the physical and mental troubles and still you stick to vedanta yes so heat or cold i will go and attend a vedanta class that is titiksha that is the practice of spiritual fortitude today i propose to dwell on one mantra from the upanishads from the largest of the upanishads the brihadar and nekopanisad there is a mantra towards the end of that upanishad it goes like this this particular mantra i'll tell you what it means it contains the essence of vedanta and shankaracharya in his commentary has written a brief commentary on it maybe a paragraph or so but vidyaranya in his panchadashi writes his biggest chapter the seventh chapter 290 verses on this one short mantra 290 verses and that chapter is packed with lot of insights into vedanta into spiritual life so i'll primarily draw upon that and many other things today a lot of material a lot of ground to cover let's see i'll have to move fast and you'll have to pay attention atmanam jaydev that's the original language what does it mean when a person realizes the self i to be this i am as me this satchidhananda i am not the body and mind i am existence consciousness place when one realizes this then next kimichan desiring what kasiya for whose satisfaction for whose pleasure shariram anusang will such a person such an enlightened person suffer along with the body suffer along with the body and mind continue to subject oneself to the sufferings of the body and mind so the whole verse together means when one becomes enlightened by enlightenment in vedanta we realize that we are the absolute existence consciousness bliss not this body mind when actually one realizes it directly then desiring what what shall i desire and for whose sake will one continue to suffer with the body mind four aspects are to be understood here uh one is realization that i must what for the first aspect is ghana realization who am i or what am i really number one the second aspect is what is called um negation of worldly enjoyment desiring what then nothing in this world becomes an object that is worth pursuing one transcends all of that so the second point we have to will dwell upon is what is to be desired in this world from the point of view of enlightenment and the answer will be nothing hit the nothing world you know none of the vishaya the the sense objects are worthwhile and the third point that we should note is for whose sake am i doing all this we never question this so the enjoyer the person who is trying the entity which is trying to get pleasure and satisfaction and enjoyment in this world we must inquire into that for whose sake that's the third aspect technically it's a negation of the of the individual enjoyer in sanskrit your terms are very precise bhaktri nishida we think that we are an individual being in this body and mind and trying to attain certain goals in life that one is dissolved and then finally suffering with the body mind complex that suffering is transcended we no longer suffer with the body mind complex the fourth fourth aspect this is called jivan mukti the body is still there you're still living your life continues but in the midst of this this life we have transcended suffering so this is called jivan mukti living in the body and yet transcending the body so these are the aspects of this this um short mantra from the brihadar nekopanishad and i propose to dwell on this today with the help of the material that i have mined from uh vidyaranya in panchadashi he takes the help of that story i have told this often the tenth man story the spiritual journey to enlightenment he understands through the 10th man story the story in brief we all know 10 friends were going on a journey and then they had to cross a river and they crossed the river and when they went across suddenly talked to one of them did we all cross or did somebody drown let's count and one of them counts one two three four five six seven eight nine no no that can't be right one two three four five six seven eight nine oh my god the tenth person is drowned it's not here and the other ones others say that no you're not counting right let me count and each of them counts and finds only nine and we know why they are finding only nine but they don't know they find only nine and they think that the tenth person is round and they're crying and then somebody passes by a wise person who says why are you crying well our friend the tenth person is has drowned is dead how did you know we counted and of course this person must have counted and seen that there are ten people and then this person says to them don't cry the tenth person is there alive where we don't see no just believe me there's an important stage in spiritual life just take it from on faith that the tenth person is there now i will show you when the person comes down it says count again one two three four five six seven eight nine i told you there are nine and this wise man takes this man's hand the one who was counting and turns it towards himself and says thou art the tenth dashama stomach the tenth and this man realizes that oh i am the tenth my god the 10th person has been found and so happy and delighted and others say let me try it let me try it and they also find one two three four five six seven eight nine ten oh my god the tenth person is found and everybody is happy all right this is the story now here if you look closely the seven stages of spiritual life according to vedanta they are all there what are the seven stages agana ignorance number one second is avarana veiling third big shaper error and suffering fourth baroque indirect knowledge indirect knowledge fifth apar direct knowledge and enlightenment sixth dukkha transcendence of suffering seventh ananda prabhu or tripty prati attainment of bliss the great bliss which is the subject of this morning's talk so seven stages let's look at the story first of all there is ignorance the person doesn't know that he has to count himself so that is the first what's the root of all of this ignorance vivekananda when he came to this country and he said in vedanta we do not talk about original sin we talk about ignorance we do not know our true nature we do not know what is what and therefore the problem starts so first ignorance that i have to count myself somehow it slipped that person's attention ignorance and the second problem comes from there is over an availing veiling is of the nature i don't see the tenth person it's veiled where is the tenth person it's hidden from me the second stage and in the same way in our life atman god brahman immortal soul i don't see it where the first person think that the skeptic or an atheist asks where is god i don't see god we are talking about pure consciousness atman brahman where i see a body look inside i see a mind that's it so it's veiled for us it's there just like the tenth person but veiled for us the thinnest of whales but very powerful nevertheless so the second stage in in our spiritual journey is our reality is veiled for us just like the tenth person he says tenth person is not there can i i can't see the tenth person i can't experience god or brahman or atman from this comes error what happened to the in the story tenth person is drowned you see can't see the tenth person so the next immediate conclusions tenth person is drowned and sorrow and veiling oh our poor friend how he drowned and then what sufferings that person must have had while drowning and we shall never see him again the tenth person is drown exactly like that we end fall into error i the the so called pure consciousness not seen second stage third stage i am the body mind because what is seen what is experienced the body is experienced the mind is experienced and the world is experienced and hence i am the body mind i am this little individual interacting with other little individuals in this world called jiva jiva is an individual being sentient being i am interacting with them trying to make the best of my life trying to overcome suffering from our childhood till now until till our death the whole struggle is somehow to overcome suffering and try to find some kind of joy peace peace bliss satisfaction we engage in various projects for that and so suffering that is the third stage big shape error and suffering in our case it is called samsara samsara this whole project of living you might say no it's not all suffering there's some fun in that also i was reading george orwell he said most of us we managed to have a fair bit of fun in our lives but on the whole on the balance life is suffering except for he says except for the very young or the very foolish on the balance life is suffering george orwell says and another person i forget a writer here in the united states he says the status she she writes the statistics tell us um one out of four persons in our country is suffering from some kind of mental um illness so if the three of your three best friends or three of your best friends are all right then it must be you [Laughter] on the balance george orwell says life is suffering that is the third stage we have this endless strife and striving and suffering then the fourth stage comes the wise person comes and tells this not does not reveal the tenth person first of all what does the wise person say relax calm down believe me that the tenth person is there where we don't see wait i'll show you but take it on faith so you your the guru comes along the spiritual teacher comes along the spiritual traditions of the book you read the books of the different great spiritual traditions of humanity and you see that there is a possibility there is a possibility of overcoming suffering there is god or heaven or the buddha will not talk about god in heaven but the buddha will say life is suffering there is a cause of suffering but the third noble truth there is something beyond suffering nirvana something is there nirvana moksha salvation something is there beyond suffering where i don't get it wait believe it accept it think about it now dwell with that for the time being you'll get it we'll show you directly you will experience it directly but for the time being take it on faith why should i take it on faith you take so many things on faith when you go to the classroom in colombia university maybe mathematics or or physics or something or computer science you don't go in there thinking that the professor must be lying to me and the textbooks are full of lies no you take it on faith that i don't get it yet i don't understand it yet but if i perceive here i will understand if i listen to this guy uh the teacher or read these books i will think about it i will get it in time so that kind of faith that's all that that's we are asking for take it on faith that this possibility is there the possibility of overcoming suffering is there what stage was that stage four this is called parochiana the knowledge you get by reading a book by listening to this talk in vedanta society okay we have been told that i am the absolute existence conscious consciousness bliss i don't even know if i can spell that properly but i must be he says so so i guess it must be so um one swami in the himalayas he was questioned why should we believe this and he said why do you believe that these are your parents your that's your mother well there are records the hospital record shows that and he says well are the hospital records even better than the upanishads and the gita and you know all the great scriptures of humanity um says no but the nurse saw this the nurse saw that uh my mother gave birth to me and the swami said it works very nicely in hindi humboldt so the nurse tells you that this is your mother i am telling you that you are brahmana am i worse than the nurse am i less believable so take it on on on um faith that there is this reality this is called parochiana which you get from a book which you get from classes and from teachers and so from your spiritual tradition religious tradition and then comes the final realization the fifth stage where the teacher tells you when the person turns his hand around and downward the tenth and with a process a spiritual process in in vedanta we undergo various techniques the method of the seer and the scene we have often discussed this drig drishya viveka the method of the five sheets the method of the three states waking dreaming and deep sleep by this analysis but these kinds of philosophical analysis we are made to appreciate actually i am the witness of the five sheets i am not this body made of five sheets i am the witness consciousness here or i am the witness of the waking and the dreaming and the deep sleep i am the consciousness which illumines all of them i am free of them they come and go or i am the seer the experiencer clearly i am not the experienced object so the body and the mind are all experienced and therefore i am the direct experiencer of this mind and body and so on and by this process along with lot of other spiritual practices i don't get it what are you saying oh you don't get it all right in that case sit straight breathe in this way meditate on ohm in your heart i'm feeling sleepy if i try to do that okay feeling sleepy in that case open your eyes don't close your eyes here is an a picture here is an icon here are flowers here is a mantra to be chanted chant it loudly so that you don't fall asleep i find this boring you find this boring then go out here are homeless people you go and help them without taking anything in return for you know for your services karma yoga upasana worship bhakti yoga meditation raja yoga all of these practices are important at this stage to convert this understanding into a direct realization and then what what happens in the fifth stage like the tenth person who realized one two three four five six seven eight nine ten oh my god in the same way there's a flash there's a breakthrough there is a moment of overwhelming clarity it comes that oh i am free of this body and mind i am the ever free witness consciousness satchida then what happens sixth stage sorrow goes away the sorrow of the losing our friend the tenth man that goes away how i see that the problems are in the body mind i the witness consciousness i am the witness of the suffering in the body i am the witness of the suffering in the mind quite apart from the body mind i never had any suffering i do not have any suffering there is no possibility of me having suffering so the question of removing suffering also goes away i have been ever free this becomes very clear this is called dukkha transcending suffering and then what am i beyond suffering this the bliss that i am sat chid ananda is ever revealed to me and the great joy i have found the tenth person oh my god my our dear friend tenth person has been found that joy which everybody enjoyed that great joy not because you found the tenth person but you realized that you are one with god that your own divine nature sachidan and atma is ever present ever shining forth ever revealed to you that kind of joy comes the the enlightened person in every tradition one characteristic is they're extraordinarily happy and satisfied blissful that's why it's called brahmananda the bliss of the infinite in every tradition it doesn't have to be the knowledge tradition of advaita vedanta it could be a devotee you know someone like meera bhai or uh surdas or the the devotees in lovers of god in every tradition say saint francis of scc they're full of joy even in the midst of what we would consider suffering and deprivation they're full of joy ananda prathi that's the seventh stage so these are the seven stages of the spiritual journey which you see illustrated by the story of the tenth person you see basically what is this journey if you see it from advaithic standpoint this journey is a discovery of what we truly are a discovery of what we truly are what am i really here are these three meanings of the word i when i say clock when i say a word clock the word is clock and it refers to this object when i say the word i what does it refer to not this one i mean the vertical eye what does the word i refer to instinctively it refers to body and mind if you say i ate without any hesitation goes this is i and if somebody catches hold of this and say what is this we say this is ah this is me the i what am i this body and what what is this body it's me instinctively it goes goes to this body mind now vedanta says there are three meanings of this word i one meaning in which we use it um the ignorant the persons who are not enlightened they use it in this this meaning and two meanings in which the enlightened use it so what is the meaning in which the ignorant those who are not yet enlightened those who are on the road to enlightenment in what way do they use the word i the i means for for most of us according to vedanta it's a combination of sakshi the witness consciousness and chidabhas are the reflected consciousness chit and jida pure consciousness and reflected consciousness what do these terms mean first of all the reflected consciousness what it means is right now we are sitting and listening if i ask you are you aware you ask yourself am i aware and the answer will come from inside yes i'm aware it could be i'm aware of the swami speaking if you're paying attention it could be i'm aware of how long is this going to last uh if you're not paying so much attention it could be that i'm aware of my dream if you're completely out of it and sleeping if you're dropping off to sleep you are you are in your dream world but you are aware that awareness is what is called reflected consciousness or reflected awareness it's like it's not the real awareness it's not not the real you the reflected awareness is like when you look at your face in the mirror you see your face in the mirror and supposing you've forgotten your original face and you think that's who i am that's not who you are that's a reflection of your face that's not the real face that's a reflection in the mirror that has really nothing to do with your face but suppose i have forgotten my own face and i take the reflection to be my face that's what has happened to us we are really the witness consciousness we don't understand that yet we don't grasp that yet but we see ourselves as the awareness we feel in the mind most grown-up educated sensitive people think of ourselves as the sentient being in this body-mind complex right now right now check with your life vedanta works wonderfully if you check with your life right now right now honestly what do i think i am i think i am this person and this aware sentient being this person in this body a person embodied in a body that's what i think i am swami vivekananda said sit quietly and say to yourself i and if any thought of body or mind comes to you you are not enlightened yet if the word i refers to the body and mind see like the word clock refers to this clock if the word i straight away naturally refers to body mind then i'm not enlightened yet so for the for the unenlightened the word i refers to the consciousness in this mind and this mind is is directly connected to the body so for the for those who are not yet enlightened not yet free not yet buddhas we think naturally think we are this this person body mind so that's one meaning of the word i the primary meaning but the enlightened persons have two meanings for the word eye which is different from us what they have been able to do is separate the witness consciousness from the reflected consciousness for them also the mirror is there what's the mirror the mind what's the face in the mirror the reflected consciousness what's the original face the witness consciousness sakshi the enlightened person is clearly able to distinguish between reflected face real face you see i can do that you can do that for a reflected face and real face but the enlightened person can distinguish between witness consciousness and reflected consciousness so reflected consciousness the awareness which we have right now which is enabling us to hear and talk or not hear as you will and dream um and the original consciousness the witness consciousness which is being reflected in the in the mirror of the mind this clarity we are aware of the mixture they are able to able to separate it srirama krishna put it very very in his sweet metaphor sanded sugar are mixed the ant can separate them water and milk are mixed the swan can separate them and the last one bengali gold male 1 i mean it no the translation comes nowhere close to the punch of the original it says in chaos there is truth leave the chaos behind and take the truth out of it very poor translation now in this mixture of pure consciousness and reflected consciousness the enlightened person is able to separate the two if you ask ramakrishna who are you truly and ramakrishna will say i am saccidananda i am existence consciousness please and then you ask so do you live in a room in the temple garden of dakshineshwar he will say yep how can pure consciousness live in a room in the temple garden of dakshinishwar are you a priest of the divine mother kali and say yes how can pure consciousness be a priest of divine mother kali or anything else and if you say that do you have a beard you'll say yes i have a beard how can pure consciousness have a beard the enlightened person uses the word i in two senses one clearly as the real sachidan and the i am brahman where with full honesty and conviction he can claim i am of the nature of bliss and consciousness i am shiva i am shiva can claim honestly can also claim that i have a beard and i live in the temple garden of dakshineshwar and i am a priest of kali what is he talking about then the reflected consciousness the the awareness in that particular body mind clearly i am not that it's the face in the mirror but i am also aware of that these two are the senses in which an enlightened person uses the word i sometimes you catch them in the transition when siram krishna says when you come here bring something for this this will be worshipped one day in from you know in know the picture of this when you looked at this picture referring to the body mind we normally do not refer to ourselves as this the unenlightened person will not cannot honestly refer to oneself as this always refer to oneself as i the mixture of pure consciousness and and reflected consciousness so the i has these three senses anyway how do you to realize this means to realize it to know it to know it with great clarity vijayaniyak how do you do that vedanta says you see we always hear shravada manana needed hasanah hear these truths think about them meditate upon them here is an insight i'll share this quickly with you when we study the vedanta this truth is told to us that you are the original consciousness the witness consciousness where do we get it from just now we are studying what a little from the upanishads yes we are studying a mantra from the upanishads the source of spiritual knowledge is the upanishads vedanta is based on the upanishads it's the experience of the sages which they have shared with us that points out this reality to us you require that person wise person to point out thou art the tenth to clarify to to remove the error in the mind somebody has to come and point it out and turn our hand this way so who does that the teacher and the text they do it now the first problem with this is the texts say many things if you look at the text upanishad will tell you the story of nachi keta who went to yama upanishads will tell you sometimes in dualistic language two birds sitting on a tree dua two birds so dualistic not non-dualistic upanishads will sometimes the gita tells you about what to eat and how much to sleep and how much to exercise so what is it all about this entire body of literature and all these teachings what's the point of it can you tell me straight away the point of it so the first problem is to know the point of all of this that's why a systematic study is necessary what is the point of it the point of all of this is that thou art you are brahmana that's the point all the other things the stories the practices and everything they are all helpful but that's not those are not the point of the entire upanishads gita or vedanta the point is that you are brahmana to get to this point is the first stage sravana sravana means hearing or systematic study so in technical vedantic language the problem of ascertaining the meaning of vedanta is called pramana sambhavana pramana means source of knowledge assambhavana means confusion or impossibility or contradiction in the source of knowledge that is resolved by shravana systematic study and hearing stage one stage two after this after what after understanding all of vedanta is telling me i am brahman after understanding this second problem comes technically this is called pramaya sambhavana a confusion or or a doubt regarding the subject of knowledge what are you studying what is the subject i am brahman that's the subject i'm studying i have a doubt about this what is the doubt how can i be brahman i am this body i am this mind i was born in such and such place and this is my life story so this is called this impossibility about the subject the subject being that i am brahman i don't feel i am brahman i am this person so this is removed by so much of discussion in vedanta many questions are raised you are you are asked to raise your questions answers are given you argue it out till you come to clarity what clarity that upanishads tell me that i am brahman stage one and stage two now i get it i get it i'm clear about it now i begin to see what they are talking about and be i'm beginning to understand that that clarity comes this is the second stage it's called manana the problem is called pramaya means the thing to be known what is to be known i am brahmana asambhavana confusion regarding that impossibility i am not brahman that is clarified by the second stage mananam which is through logic and argumentation put forward every question that you have any question that you have and the answers are dealt with even after this a problem remains whatever what has been achieved till now till now i have achieved the texts tell me i am brahmana and i understand that i am brahman i understand here i understand but what's the problem now the problem now is i understand something here but the rest of it they don't obey they go their own way jonathan hyde here who's a well-known psychologist he's written the book the happiness hypothesis he writes he gives the example of the mahu the one who controls the elephant sitting on the elephant and the elephant itself now the one who's sitting on the elephant who controls the elephant he can read a map and he can know i'm to go from here point a to point b now the elephant is not interested in your maps the elephant can't read the map the elephant will go will take you from point a to point b only if the elephant wants but that if eleven wants to go and raid uh somebody's uh garden and eat the bananas that it's too strong you can't stop it no no amount of see that's what happens the intellect gets convinced you know all these barns and nobles you will see full of big shelves full of self-help books how to meditate how to become thin how to become happy and how to focus how to manage your time and so many wonderful books if you see those books you will feel that life can be transformed into something fantastic within a few days in three days or seven day course so 21 day course to happiness and then after some time they don't work i bought so many books they don't work they all say nice things and persuasive things what has happened the books speak to the intellect the intellect is convinced the intellect is full of enthusiasm yes i must get up at 4am in the morning and meditate and do yoga intellect is full of fire and enthusiasm but next day in the morning when it is cold when it is in in the 20s and it's really really cold and 4 am the alarm goes off the body says i am the one who is going to get up and feel cold not you intellectually but what about all the resolutions what about all the all the decisions that i have to do this the body says those were your resolutions did you ask me i like sleeping i like remaining under covers and who's stronger usually the body is stronger it's like a committee where the intellect is one member but the emotions are another member the likes and dislikes are the the past conditioning is another member the physical body with this nervous system is another member of the committee those members did not sign on for your program of self self-improvement so what does the elephant respond to the elephant respo just think about it what do the mouths do they don't give inspiring talks to the elephant they train the elephant and training is basically repetition repetition a program of training is given so once i have understood this once i have i have grasped this particular truth that i am brahmana then i have to dwell on it i had to dwell on it this dwelling on what you have understood from the texts what you have clear about intellectually this continuous dwelling on it and trying to bring it into life taking it for a test drive trying to struggle to manifest it in life this is called vedantic needy it can be done sit quietly and feel that your brahman what you have understood feel it as a reality but it also can be done in action every day we chant when when we go when we eat here brahma panam ramahavi brahmagna that's not a prayer for eating that's the prayer for needed dhyasana the the final stage of vedantic practice that where you see the instruments of action as brahman the you know like when you are eating the food itself is brahmana the one who is eating is brahman the act of eating is brahman in fact in any action one who sees all the factors of action as brahman that one attains to brahman that is needed that's dwelling on that before that you must have understood vedanta and you must get clarity about vedanta then try to manifest it in everyday life the persons you interact with are brahman this person this body and mind is brahman the consciousness with which i do this work is brahman the instruments of action and brahman all factors involved in my life are brahman deal with it like that person who can re hold on to this awareness that person realizes [Music] this practice it's strenuous till you fall asleep until you die till that point continue with vedanti immerse yourself in vedantic thought first the thought then only practice immerse yourself in this clarity of understanding then it will automatically get expressed in action usually we put the cart before the horse swami i understood that i listened to your talk but doesn't work in real life what you're trying to do is i think i'm body and mind but i'll try to behave like i'm brahmana no first you must be clear about how you are brahmana then only try to behave like your brahman in in in this in the world of action so this is the um vijaniyat when you realize yourself how do you realize shravana mananananananyasana this third third part needed hassan removes a problem technical name viparita bhavana paritabhavana means opposite tendency life after life we have conditioned ourselves to behave as if we are this body-mind so even when clarity comes into the mind that i am the witness consciousness i tend to behave as a body-mind that tendency has to be reversed by dwelling on it needed three problems three practices first problem i do this is pramana sambhav and i don't know what the texts mean so shravana study and listen again and again and again did you get a clarity about the text the teaching now you know what the teaching says second problem that pramiya asambhavana i know the texts tell me i'm brahmana but i don't get it how am i brahmana what is brahman and how i am brahman so that is resolved by mananam the second practice and third is even after attaining clarity that i am brahmana now i know that dopanishads teach i am brahman i am clear about it i have got clarity that i am brahman but i can't put it into practice in life my the elephant still tends to go its own way so the training the drilling into it vivekananda says tell yourself again and again i am that till it tingles with every drop of your blood that is needed that's the final stage vipareeta bhavana opposite tendencies are erased by this understanding realization this is realization vijaniyak vijaniyah then what comes gimmich and desiring what i'm not even halfway through my talk and this time is almost up now but we'll go on a little more ke mitchan desiring what what do you desire in life power sense pleasures power learning um status what do we desire in life kim is desiring what do we lead our lives here consider for a moment from the enlightened person's point of view of course but even now we can see all our efforts till now to overcome suffering and to be happy what have they yielded at this moment some of us the little children here you've lived lived 9 years or 10 years or 11 years the senior citizens i know bill has lived 94 years so till now all our lives spent in this project what do we have to show for it are we happy have we attained something permanent the first first great fault of all worldly pursuits impermanence it comes and goes flash in the pan any sense pleasure for example is very impermanent somebody said cookie chocolate chip cookie or something like whatever whatever you you want to your favorite food put it on your list two seconds or two on the lips and 20 years on the hips somebody said you have to work so hard at pilates to get rid of that extra fat but the pleasure you get out of it few seconds only so impermanent every joy sense pleasures very much impermanent and then all other pleasures also even the things that we cultivate in art and science after 10 years 20 years there are other people who exceed you you yourself begin to lose those capacities whether it's music or art or writing or science one mathematician told me at a university i feel so depressed at seeing my seniors or we are so inspired by them but mathematics pure mathematics is a young person's game and these people who are our seniors in the 60s and 70s they still think they can make do cutting-edge work because that's what they've been pursuing all their life and they're right but we know that they're writing trash but it's so sad that invested totally invested in that that's their source of happiness it goes away impermanent the buddha said anitya manityam sarva manityam impermanent impermanent all is impermanent you say yeah we know that all is impermanent but i'm born and i have to die but in between i can have my fun i have a lot of life a lot of time you know and the buddha says not only impermanent momentary it doesn't last for very long also it lasts just a moment because there are many moments one after another in a series we think it lasts for a long time they say allata chakra but like whirling a firebrand it looks like a circle of fire but it's just one dot moving very fast in the same way life is not only impermanent but also momentary kshanikam not only momentary he goes further shunyam shunyam sarvamshunyam wide void empty empty all is empty and finally dukkham dukham hence suffering because impermanent momentary and empty and therefore suffering you say oh boy what a pessimist impermanence of all kinds of enjoyments that's one great great defect kimichan what will you desire everything is impermanent bhartri hari he writes everything was momentary i am now old when i look back when i look back upon my childhood school and college and all of that it seems to have passed in a moment just look back and see just gone when you were there it seemed to be forever when will i grow up but now that you look back upon it it's momentary and he says youth in its vigor and and desire to taste the world and enjoy life momentum it seems to have gone in a moment and middle aged beset with so many cares financial worries for family worries and projects for life life is passing me by i have to do this i have to do that gone in a moment it's gone he says now i am old i walk with tottering on with the help of a stick my hair is grey my teeth have fallen out and in front of me there is only death so momentary all of life has gone by that way shanica momentary impermanent that's one great problem of any kind of worldly acquisition the next problem is even the pleasures are mixed with suffering even the pleasures are mixed with suffering whatever you want to get yeah so much effort has been required to get it imagine i want to be a multi-millionaire on wall street well first you have to go to an ivy league college and getting in there you need so many percentiles on your set and so much of a tremendous effort to write your what do you call it the the thesis why you should be admitted there why should we take yes yes the essays and so much so much effort when i hear about it just hearing makes me tired and after you get your degree you have to get to work and somebody was telling me my kid is working 100 hour weeks in an investment first firm earning a lot of money but hundred hour weeks if you put in 100 hour week 100 hour week you'll be enlightened well maybe two 200 weeks that kind of commitment will definitely give you guard realization enlightenment you can become a buddha with that kind of effort huh doctors also yes doctor then and sometimes housewives work 100 weeks also but they never appreciate it it's only the glamorous wall street brokers who are appreciated no but it's true i've i stayed in these two interesting places last year i was in hollywood and now manhattan close to wall street two kinds of places there the goal is glamour and the movie industry and making it there that takes a lot of talent and work very few people make it here the goal is to be go to wall street and become a multi-millionaire you know in your stocks and shares and investment and so on be a financial wizard that also takes a lot of hard work a lot of effort is put into that suffering and and strife is put into all our acquisitions it's surrounded by suffering and the buddhists say their masters at this they call it raining on your parade that leading up to the pleasure is acquisition of the pleasure is suffering and when you acquire that pleasure there is the suffering knowing that it will going to come to an end it's going to go away not only go away it will leave traces in my mind wanting more that is suffering when it goes away it is suffering and the the the traces it has left the addiction for more and more and more more variety that is suffering suffering pleasure is surrounded by suffering the thesis says life is suffering and pleasure is disguised suffering is suffering in mufti so the second great problem with worldly pleasures is it's surrounded by suffering second the third one is it is unset unsatisfying it is deeply unsatisfying as i said all of us we've been trying to be happy with all these projects in life and how many of us can claim after 20 30 40 50 60 years of trying at this moment right now sitting here can i claim that i have achieved it nobody but there is a class of people who can claim that and that class is the people who are spiritual who are enlightened they can claim satisfaction the great bliss which we are talking about that's coming next so chemical desiring what and the next the fourth great and the greatest of it our problem with worldly satisfaction is advaita vedanta says mithya they are not real they are not real that's the deepest fault in the isho upanishad one of the greatest supernaturals at the end it says you know the famous mantra the first mantra isha was yatkin everything in the world is to be covered with god covered with god means you have to discover god in everything live your life based on this renunciation holding on to god and renouncing the quest for worldly pleasures with dhanam do not covet anybody else's wealth it's a literal translation what it means is all your joy should be in in god or in spirituality not in worldly pursuits that's the first meaning the first layer the second layer of the meaning do not covet any any anybody's wealth or any wealth the second layer is shankaracharya comments the deeper meaning is what wealth is there to covet what is there actually in the world to covet because it's not real if there was something real apart from that sachidan and the the absolute then you could say i want that i want to add that to myself but there is no such thing everything in the world is a manifestation of the same brahman why is it that when you see things in in a movie i remember there was a first and the only three-dimensional movie i saw when i was a kid that had come to the cinema hall and you had to put on these glasses and you could see it in 3d it was a now you could be looking back about it was very very silly movie but they had some these funny special effects where somebody has a plate of sweets indian sweets laddu mithai and suddenly the plate comes out of the screen and comes in front hovers in front of your face now you don't the kids had a great deal of fun trying to grab it you know you could see people in the movie hall swinging their arms trying to grab it but you know it's all in fun you really are not trying to grab it even if you are hungry because you know it's not there though it's in front of you it's hovering right before your nose it's not there exactly in the same way vedanta says all the so-called pleasures of the world they are appearances in the one consciousness that you are just like a movie no different in fact vidyarny suggests an interesting exercise when you wake up sometimes we wake up from our dreams and we have a vivid though temporary memory of our dreams we just feel we are seeing that when we wake up he says stop there i found this exercise very good stop there sit quietly don't jump jump out of bed sit quietly look at the world around you that means your bedroom and whatever you see close your eyes imagine what you just saw and imagine the dream that you saw just before that a minute before that in your mind the world that you see by opening your eyes and the world that you see in your dreams if you compare the two you will see how alike they are there are things and people and colors and sounds and experiences their experiences here that's all that there is to it if you open your eyes the sense impressions are so vivid they will make you feel this world is real that was a dream but if you see this and then close like taking a picture and then close your eyes and imagine what you saw and then remember what you saw in the dream and bring them close together you will see how dream like this worldly experience is right after a vivid dream it's a very powerful technique i found it useful the holy mother said once to swami arupananda my child this world is also a dream and he protested he said no no this is stable every night we go into a different dream but we wake up into the same world so this can't be a dream she didn't give any vedantic talk or argument she just laughed she said even so my child this is nothing more than a dream this waking world so the fourth great problem with worldly desires is that it is dream like mithya an appearance of false it's not a reality it's an appearance and arising within our awareness just like watching a movie it's a fourth what were the first three my somebody has screwed up the face trying to remember he told us the first three what were the three problems with worldly enjoyment one is temper yes it's temporary the second one is it's a temporary momentary the same thing the first one it is it is um anityam the second one is suffering it is pervaded all through by suffering it's mixed it's like a sweet your favorite cookie but mixed with poison even a little bit of poison that spoils the fun for the whole thing and the third problem is that unsatisfactory nothing yet we haven't learned our lesson we keep pursuing the same thing somebody said the definition of insanity is if you keep doing the same thing and expect different results that's the very definition of insanity so we keep doing that trying to get happiness from this these pursuits and the last one the greatest defect but it's a very metaphysical and philosophical defect that it's an appearance it's false it's not real out there it's like trying to grab something from a movie and enjoy it it's not there gimme chan and then even more kasia kama for whose sake for whose sake are you doing this i will not go into the depth of this discussion there's a long discussion on this but i'll briefly touch upon it all the pleasures of the waking world all that you enjoy and suffer in the dream world and the peace and restfulness of the deep sleep they remain where they are you move smoothly between them waking you understand what i'm referring to waking dream deep sleep we move smoothly between these three states when you move from waking this waking world manhattan your job your apartment your relatives your children and spouse and community your your dog all of it is left behind including your body is left out of your consciousness and you may go into a dream world with its pleasures and its terrors and when you move out of the dream into fall into a deep slumber all the nice dreams and the nightmares are left there you move away from them into deep nothingness of blankness peacefulness enjoyments of the external world enjoyments of the dream world and the peace and they say ananda book the enjoyment of the restfulness of the deep sleep all of them remain in waking dreaming and deep sleep you move easily between them the um upanishad gives the example of maha matsya the great fish on the two banks of the river ganges there's a great fish which goes sometimes on the left bank and sometimes on the right bank it moves easily between them or sometimes in between underneath the water that's the way we move easily and freely between waking world dream world and deep sleep world actually i've seen this in our monastery near calcutta the river ganges is there the ganga and there are uh there are river dolphins river dolphins the ganges dolphin is there and that sometimes it sometimes comes up for air so sometimes you see it coming up for air on the other side on near calcutta sometimes on this side near bellure sometimes in the middle of the river maybe the rishis saw this thing and they gave this example we move like that freely between all of these states therefore we are free of these enjoyments and sufferings for who's sick the enjoyer in the waking state mr sohan saw swami so and so is left behind when you the witness consciousness transit into the deep sleep actually you don't transit those states transit in front of you they arise in front of you and you the sufferer or the enjoyer in the nightmares or the pleasant dreams of this dream state that one is left behind and you the witness consciousness now you experience the blankness and restfulness of deep sleep which is left behind when again the waking state comes back the bhokta and bhagya the enjoyer of sufferer and the objects of enjoyment are suffering they are separate from you for whose sake are you chasing those particular pleasures for the waker for the dreamer for the deep sleeper none of them are you you are apart from all of them i'll just say this the whole discussion on how to attain this kasya kamaya for whose sake then shari ram manusang juraid the enlightened one once you realize this why should i suffer along with the body why should i identify myself with the body and mind suffer along with it see the body three bodies according to vedanta physical body no i have only one body this one but if you look closely this body has three aspects one is the physical body which is public which the doctor can examine that's the physical body stool of gross body then subtle body when you look inside thoughts feelings memories ideas the person inside subtle body sukshma sharira and beyond that it might seem theoretical but we experience it and for the sake of completion we must account for it the deep sleep experience where we do not experience a physical body we do not experience thoughts and memories that deep sleep experience that is caused by the causal body they call it karana sharira stula shadira physical body sukshma sharira subtle body and karana sharira causal body it is the causal body and the subtle body which go away after death when the physical body dies it's the causal body and the subtle body which we identify as the person the the individual person so each of them have sufferings oh there is pain here or i'm i'm so obese i have to lose weight i don't look like the way i look i means they're the physical body you are not that yes you can take steps and and enroll in a gym to lose weight but remember the problem of the problem is in the physical body and is solved at the level of the physical body you have nothing to do with it experiencing it does not make make you the possessor of something when i experience a table i don't become a table i mean i experience the cream or the yellow or the gray or something i don't become cream or yellow or gray similarly experiencing a body and its troubles does not make me the possession of those troubles that's the inside similarly come to the subtle body desire humiliation anger misery depression all the problems not denying it they are there but they are there in the subtle body you are the experience of the illuminator of all of that experiencing the misery of the subtle body correct vedanta does not say that's wrong but from there when you jump to say i am miserable oh i am so unhappy vedanta says wrong you are the experience of the witness of the unhappiness in the mind you are not unhappy think about that in fact when you do think about it the unhappiness or the depression of the mind goes down i could go on actually i'm going to take one more hour i think don't don't worry i won't so the problem of the subtle body remains in the subtle body and the deep sleep gives see deep sleep there is no problem sick person is not sick in deep sleep the miserable person is not miserable in deep sleep because we do not experience the sick body or the miserable mind in deep sleep true but all the seeds are there they say bijavasta in in mandu kyopanishin that the the these seed of all sufferings in waking and dreaming are there because when you wake up from deep sleep you're still the same person with the same limitations and desires and problems so that means in deep sleep when i was not aware of the problems the problems were still there in seed state so deep sleep the causal body has the problem of having everything in a potential seed state none of them i am though i experience all of them i am free of all of them they come and go in me the unchanging awareness this is called shariram anusang jared for what should i suffer with the three bodies and the threefold problems i am the witness free of all of them moment i realize this i transcend suffering this is the sixth stage that transcending suffering i realized that i always was beyond suffering it is a form it's out of my own foolishness that i was hugging the physical body i was hugging the subtle body i was hugging the causal body and bringing their suffering unto me this hugging it in sanskrit in a philosophy it is called adhyas superimposition i am superimposing the whole deal upon me and my qualities of existence and reality upon them so why should i suffer along with them the moment i'm free of this simultaneously the freedom and the joy of my own nature ananda becomes revealed to me the great satisfaction what i meant the great bliss the subject which we have today we have just started the subject now the great bliss now we are beginning to understand what the great place is once you reach that why ask yourself why is the enlightened person so happy why are spiritually advanced people so happy they're happy because they have the experience that my brahman nature is ever revealed to me brahmanandam spastambibatime the bliss of brahman is spectacularly clearly ever shining before me why should i not be happy compared to that person there's a song which says the people of the world sitting on the banks of an ocean of nectar they die of thirst what are they doing sitting on the bank the poets say i think it's no rajinikanth or something i think he says he's sitting on the bank of the river or atul prasad sitting on the bank of the river of nectar it's flowing past but does not look there he's digging in the sand for hope hoping little bit of water drinking in the dry sand hoping for a little bit of water to slake this unquenchable thirst which we experience in the world all throughout our lives while the river the ocean of nectar flows past silently within us all you have to do is turn turn inwards it's there vedanta clearly takes you there by the hand step by step baby step by baby step and shows you that ananda prabhti now what is the cause of this bliss vedanta says three things what does that mean you finally realize at that point that you have done what is to be done in human life that attainment of that com the ultimate peace and bliss and satisfaction you've got it you have done it you know you have realized god you have found god you have found your true self imagine if you're no longer haunted by a sense of why did i not do these things a nurse who was in term or taking care of terminally ill patients she talked with them and she has written down her recollections very interesting she said the greatest regret that dying people had the greatest regret was that they never tried to do the things they really wanted in their lives now life is gone they always always had a dream of doing something or the other which they could not get around to for some reason they never even not even that they did not do it that they did not try that is the greatest regret at the point of death imagine then fear knowing that you have done it all there is nothing that remains for you to be done in in life so krita kriti it is accomplished it's done imagine the peace second prampania prabhtam that which is to be attained in life what is to be got in life you've got it you've got god you've got the infinite you've got what all of life is meant is searching to get you've got it imagine the satisfaction and the bliss and third one what is to be known in life what people are searching for in life in science in art in in social political causes that search is over you have you have known it now having known the absolute having got the absolute having attained the absolute you get this great bliss ananda prabhti tripty prabhti so these are the stages in spiritual life let me repeat that mantra you think it was a long journey actually it was not it's as short as i could make it that mantra i am having known oneself as this saccidananda desiring what and for whose sake should i suffer along with the body i pray to the lord that may the blessings of the lord descend upon us so that in this very life we can realize that and attain that great bliss [Music]

Channel: Vedanta Video

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Keywords: Vedanta, religion, god, karma, meditation, ramakrishna, vivekananda, brahman, hindu

Id: sN00mSWFHGA

Length: 69min 39sec (4179 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 27 2022