Swami Sarvapriyananda on 'CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE'

oh stop oh call Macias Elvis Elvis we're opening without average diorama Krishna Latino Ganon Eames all along daivam Ramakrishnan giveth guru bandhu put me tell you 12 and mommy move move nama sri yeti raja yoga Vacon and the surah said Jitsu curse little boy so many Namaskar and a very good morning to all of you here who are physically present and all those who are virtually present if yeah you may well laugh but I'm sure that those are virtually present are laughing when might say physically present you know so the exercise they are laughing other people who are physically present what a beautiful selection of the song we started from the light divine the light within it perfectly matches what we are going to talk about in fact we can not have the talk anymore because it is that beautiful sound said it all what I decided to speak about today this morning is a question and the answer to that question the question was raised by a Vedanta student we don't know who he or she was but it was definitely a very long time ago the question we find in the Kano finishes at the beginning of the Kano finition most conventional attempts are dating it have gone back to a time before the Buddha definitely so that's at least 25 centuries or more than that so the question was asked Oh sh ins of time ago from across this distance and we will see what remarkable sense this question makes what a remarkable question this is what a remarkable person it must have been you asked this question for the first time and how after maybe thirty cent we are finally beginning to ask this question again in the late 20th and early 21st centuries what was the question the Sanskrit goes like this Khe Sanh prey item butter Dimona Cana prana presume operate a yuktah Cana she tombow Jemima more than the Chuck show show trunk oh they were eunuch T she asks this student asked the teacher who the teacher is and who the student is not mentioned in definition but it's a dialogue the student asks impelled by what light inspired by what power does my mind think impelled and inspired by what inner light are these words uttered what illumines my sight gives me the experience of seeing what is it that you know in humans my other senses by which I can hear I can smell like it so all of this this question he asked the question go they were which bright being which light is it that impels that that inspires that illumines all this let us dwell for a while on the question what the question is is that all our conscious experience it's remarkable it's remarkable here is it clear is this body of flesh and blood and bone and I can see I can hear I have the conscious experience of talking walking grasping something I had the conscious experience of thinking each of us has it in fact the most important thing that we all have ever is this conscious experience this is our life this is my life this is your life this is hard life this conscious experience this continuous movie we are having all the time where we consciously experience the world outside sights smells people things where we experience our own thoughts feelings emotions so the an external world of which our body is also part of the external world and an internal private world which we all feel all the time memories thoughts feelings desires frustrations fear all of that inside all of this is conscious experience and this person is asking what is the nature of this conscious experience what makes it possible what is the importance of this question let's think about it this body is material there's no doubt about it it's a bunch of chemicals if we ask modern science they will tell you there's so many chemicals elements put together and that's the body our flesh our bones our blood and all and after all when you want to treat the body come you can come and join us here but if you want to if you if we have a problem with the body the doctors give us medicines for the body and what are those medicines it matter their elements their chemicals so that that cures our our problems our physical physical problems because body is physical its matter and the mind and if you ask Vedanta what is the body if you ask Indian philosophy they will answer the same thing it is matter they don't use our modern terms for our modern elements they will use the ancient terms which were used by all civilizations in the past the five elements of our body is made of they call it bunch of root of five elements earth water fire air and space every ancient civilization not just India not all the philosophies not just all the philosophies of India but in ancient Greece too sometimes four elements sometimes five elements so they will say yes it is made of matter the physical body is made of matter the five elements in the mind within within which we experience thoughts feelings emotions ideas memories what is that modern science as yet has no clear answers the generally accepted answer so far is that mind is something which is produced by matter it's what they call scientists call an epiphenomenon you have a candle you light a candle it produces light and heat it's a by-product of a chemical process so you have a lot of chemical processes going on in the body and chemical processes in the brain and nervous system somehow they say it generates what we experience of the mind how it generates how it works modern science has really it has to be said we really don't have a clue modern science of now accrue we're just beginning to investigate it but modern science is it's a product of method we can't think of anything else it's must be a product of matter what it is exactly we don't know Vedanta has an answer they say in the mind also is matter modern science is right but Vedanta has a concept of subtle matter our physical bodies this table our bodies these are made of gross matter the five gross elements and these five gross elements have a subtle form sukshma sukshma that word means subtle so these five elements have a gross there's a gross earth and a gross water and a gross space and a gross it and that is what constitutes our subtle body they call it the subtle body and that is our mind according to them it's also material in principle it's interesting where an that doesn't differ from modern science modern science it says the mind must be generated by the brain we're onto phase but the mind is also material it's also material now the question asked by this student here is the brilliant inside the student has and the reason for asking this question matter is not consciousness matter is not aware matter is not sentient how does matter suddenly become conscious aware sentient it's like this bright lights which we have here when they were in the shop before the Swami bought them and put them in here during the shop they didn't produce light when you put them in producers right when you hook up these microphones to the electricity it amplifies sound goes to you when you hook up that camera it starts recording video and transmitting to people you know through the internet you when you hook it up it starts transmitting throughout the world and to other cities and to Canada and other places what happened to the bulb which was not giving light what suddenly happened to it is giving light now what happened to the microphone its amplifying sound what happened to the laptop suddenly it's transmitting data across the world what got into these things let's put it in another way even simpler there is water here then you drink it it's sweet strange and there is water here you drink it it's salty strange it look alike so you are you are you can ask legitimately what got into this water which looks clear but it tastes sweet what got into this water which looks exactly the same but it tastes salty so you know that somebody is put sugar in this water somebody has put salt in this water you know that this electricity has gotten into this bulb and it shines electricity has gotten into this microphone and it magnifies sound and electricity is flowing through these devices the wonders of modern technology our laptops and our cameras some one of them starts recording video the other one starts transmitting data hooks up to the internet so something has come from outside which makes these things do what they are doing they are doing what they are designed to do but they need something from outside to make them do what they are doing because they don't do it by themselves now he is asking this question what is it that gives us conscious experience what is it which actually makes us what we are sentient conscious aware beings what generates this inner movie which we have which we call our inner lives what is that that's the question is asking it's a powerful question it's like the difference is nowadays we have actually here in California we have something called a driverless car it's making the news Google car and different companies are working on that now suppose you are driving along and you're coming here to to the vedanta class and you look at the traffic stop and you look and you find this little card which is next to you and there's nobody you do these nobodies Davidi and you look at that now the Google cloud car is driving along and it just perfectly well it scares you but the crowd is supremely confident it drives along perfectly well it senses you keep some distance from you it goes where it's supposed to go I mean it's incredible what they're doing now I was reading undercover citizen cover story of Time magazine just a month back not only are they saying they're going to make those things legal they're going to make it mandatory you will not be allowed to drive anymore yes it sounds like something even in science fiction you couldn't have really dreamt of it but Jesse they're able to do it they say that there is all sorts of reasons for doing it well one of the transport authority says why would you want to put a human being in charge of a two-ton death machine which is your car it is their thing is going to be much safer and it's going to solve the parking problem normally people wouldn't vote for such a thing but if you say is you're going to solve your parking problem how does it solve your parking problem it drops you off once you get down it scoots off and it finds a place to park anywhere in the city when you want to go uses some intensive app God someone you press the switch on that it'll come to you and it will tell you I'm coming in 10 minutes I'll pick you up and there's no driver in it and it's already there's text technology tip now the point here is why am I giving this a beautiful example and this example was actually used by a neuroscientist giving a talk recently in Cambridge University so I'm just quoting him he says imagine you are driving and the Google car pulls along next to you now the Google car is doing exactly what you are doing driving the car performing the same functions but the Google car does not feel what it is to be a drive you know you have a conscious feeling you see things you are aware of other vehicles you or you're controlling you have a feel of the vehicle you are driving sight sounds a first-person experience a subjective experience none of it exists in the Google car the Google car does not feel what it is like to drive but it can't like it can do exactly what you can do in a fashion after the fashion it can also see a sensor you don't have to go as fancy as a Google car when you put your hand in a washbasin it get starts giving water it senses the presence of your hand when you walk through a door in the airport it opens it senses your presence so technically those things are possible but what is the difference the difference is those sensors that Google car it doesn't have awareness consciousness a first-person experience what we mean by that this is what a modern philosophers and neuroscientists they are calling the hard problem of consciousness those who are in this field they know about this consciousness studies is booming now in the last twenty thirty years lot of work is being done on that and as we can see it's the most important field of science because it's directly about ourselves external world is out there body is closer to us the mind the science of the mind psychology is closer to us but even closer to us is our own consciousness awareness so the science is finally beginning to ask questions about consciousness and once they have started asking questions about consciousness they found the problem divides itself into two parts one whole set they call the easy problem of consciousness easy within course because it's not at all easy but still comparatively easy what are those problems um how do we see how do we hear the mechanism how is it that light enters our eyes and then it's converted into electrical signals going to the brain and so on how is vision possible how is speech possible those various processes which consciousness operates in our body and mind those are technical problems and what they normally do is nowadays a lot of what's going on even in the San Diego is here itself advanced cutting-edge words what they do is they have sophisticated machines called fMRI functional MRI they'll hook it up to your brain and when you do certain things certain areas of our brains fire neurons fire and the correlate you're looking at a cartoon and a certain area of the brain fires so okay this is the neuron which files when you watch Mickey Mouse something like that not as silly as that but yes so they call it a science of correlation something you do and something happens in the brain and they correlate so this is one way of understanding consciousness as you can see it's a very physical way of understanding consciousness from an external point of view but that's only one aspect the real aspect of consciousness which is interesting is our inner experience you know what the difference is it's like a doctor comes and examines the enzymes in my stomach and the secretion of juices and things like that and finally after all the examination says okay this person is hungry and I can report to you that I am hungry because I can feel it so I have an inner feeling a consciousness and externally a scientist or a doctor may measure certain things and come to a conclusion which I feel are you feel directly inside so the direct feeling inside how is that possible how is that possible that's not possible in matter because matter doing exactly what you are doing the Google car in you driving they're doing exactly the same thing in one there is a conscious feeling in the other one there is no conscious feeling it's a sophisticated computer device which is doing all the things which we are doing the difference between the Google car and you income here I'm going to six even commune okay so this difference there's a philosopher David Chalmers you can look it up a lot of the talks are available on internet YouTube to he'll given dead terminology and this is subject has been going on for a quite a while David Chalmers he is the one who has posed a hard problem of consciousness look it up it's very interesting and it's so amazing to think that 30 centuries ago here is this person in the clean open issue asking exactly the same question the cane open issue it's not easy to ask that question we are barely beginning to understand this problem itself we are barely beginning to formulate the question lot of very smart people don't even understand the question I saw this debate on online between some very brilliant people it was Rebecca Goldstein who wrote this book on 36 arguments for the existence of God something like that yeah and she's a scientist and a science writer she wrote a biography of could go tell and she was asking this question but the fundamental question of consciousness is how do we get this first person subjective experience and on the panel give us his brilliant absolutely brilliant guy a mathematician Minsky and he did not get the question at all he said there is no problem of consciousness there's a problem of how do we see and there's a problem of how to be here and there's a problem of how do we speak and you psychologists and scientists studies people you are just because you don't understand them you are clubbing these problems together and calling it the problem of consciousness there is no problem of consciousness there's only a problem of seeing and hearing you once we understand that that problem of consciousness is solved she just doesn't get the question what is the difference between the Google car driving the computer driving the Google car and you driving your car he says Minsky sees no difference just just a machine doing this things and here is a physical biological machine doing something there is no difference what about the inner explains there is no such thing as an inner experience you might think this incredible did you get it is the a zombie of something it does he has he been made by Google West but he is not alone there are a number of very brilliant people who don't seem to think it's a problem at all the light within the light divine the divine light which which we'll just sang about Minsky says there's no light it's all dark inside what light so we are struggling with this question we're trying to formulate this question now and it's an accepted fact in consciousness study there are textbooks on it now and people are struggling but it's very difficult to understand haha very difficult to get a grasp on this question and let alone solve it and what we are struggling to do today in a 21st century 3,000 years ago here's this person beautifully asking this question Minsky would say not all his round is asking what makes my eye see and what makes my ears hear these are different questions there's a separate process for the eyes and separate process for the year separate process for speech but the person who is asking the question look at the various put the question thirty centuries ago he answered Minsky he says no it's one dream he says what is the one light shining through all of this after all it is our continuous inner experience right now we know that those seeing something is a very different from hearing something and that is very different from smelling or tasting something and yet we all know these are all conscious experiences these are part of our conscious life it's one subjective experience which I'm having different types of subjective experience but it's me I am experiencing it these are not different processes this physically they are different processes externally different biologically different processes but deep inside these are all conscious experiences which I am having and the dead guy in the cane or phoenician he is asking this question by what is this possible it's not possible by itself by itself a Google car is possible by itself the water tax and sensor is but by itself a conscious experience of this human being doing all this is not possible something got into it something got into the water to make it salty something got into the water to make it sweet something got into the light to make it shine it's capable of shining but it needs something to shine otherwise it could always be shining similarly what got into this bundle of matter gross matter the body and subtle matter the mind which give makes it light enough which makes it shine what is that light that is this question now we just begin to understand the question and because the open assured in sanskrit starts with Kaena Kaena literally in sanskrit means by what so the open assure itself is called Kazon position so the by what you finish it that is the question if you think the question is remarkable and it is the answer will just blow your mind if you use an Americanism the answer will blow your head the teacher says that this is the most important question in all of human life and it's answered is the answer to all our questions it's a solution to all our problems it's the secret of spirituality and religion to answer to this question but the answer that the teacher gives is also very remarkable exposing experts let me give you the answer then we'll go into it and see what it means for us our spiritual life the teacher says in the student asks so what is it that makes my eye see where ears hear my speech speak and the answer that the teacher gives is throat Rajesh wrote Ramana soma know yet watch over vultures around us your prana Jerusha structured at MOT adhira radius modulo cause amrita hunty the answer is three parts the first part is a direct answer to the question question was what is it that makes makes my eyes see this conscious experience what happens what is that what is that light and it answer the teacher is it is the eye of the eye it is the year of the year it is the mind of the mind it is the speech of the speech what kind of answer is that year of the year any conscious activity you do you speak to the speech of the speech you see is that it is the eye of the eye you hear is the ear of the ear by that what does it mean the teacher is using a very sophisticated technique and will try to break it down and understand what he is doing is he is giving an answer the perfect most perfect possible answer to this very difficult question we are just beginning to understand the question now the answer will take some time to understand but he is giving an answer a very perfect answer and not only a perfect answer it's not a theoretical answer he's putting it in terms which will be immediately useful to us let's see how it's an answer which if understood leads immediately to enlightenment it leads immediately to answer the question at the deepest level Who am I because by now we must have all understood what the student is asking is what is this thing what am I really that's what a student is asking this bundle of seeing hearing thinking smelling touching being happy being sad desiring and then finally growing old and dying what is this thing what's the mystery of this thing that's what is asking basically is asking Who am I what am I now the answer is this the answer in one word is consciousness but let's appreciate what consciousness is otherwise you run the danger of going down the path that Minsky took consciousness is something that's produced by the body and - just a few processes put together so she says first thing he says you're seeing you are having the first-person experience of seeing what is behind that what is the light behind that he says it is the eye of the eye the moment you use a term like the eye of the eye you immediately mean it is something from the ayats that first of all you mean that otherwise you would have said it dies themselves moment you say I of the I I mean see ye the the eye of the eye the ear of the ear you mean that there's something which is different from the eyes something which is different from the ears it's not part of the visual system it's not part of the auditory system no more than electricity is part of the bulb no more than sugar is part of the water if something different from our physical body mind system number one but yet it is not completely a part it's something different which is not part of the body mind system which means consciousness is not a part of the body that's the first answer the consciousness is not a part of the body hands are part of the body my liver is part of the body or kidney is part of the body I am not entitled to speak of my consciousness in that way it's not like I have a kidney and two kidneys and liver and a heart and a consciousness not like that it is something apart from the body that's number one he also means by implication it's not something produced by the body the consciousness the light within is not something produced by a mixture of chemicals in this body mixture of the matter can only produce more matter it cannot produce sentience awareness consciousness remember here I am making a subtle difference between so-called conscious activities and consciousness itself conscious activities can be imitated by matter your conscious activity of driving a car can be beautifully imitated by the Google guard without consciousness it is being imitated but consciousness itself is not is not produced by matter that's what you're claiming at least so it's not a part of the body is not even a product from the brain number one number two by saying it is the eye of the eye it seems to imply that in some sense it is the essence of seeing it's not it's not just something apart and something's different from the eye but it's there in the visual system itself so consciousness is something which pervades us it's apart from from the body but it pervades the mind of the body that's why we feel conscious the mind feels conscious at least hopefully sometimes we're answer classes have a make way of making the mind feel unconscious in order to go off to sleep so it pervades the mind it pervades the body and when you say I of the eye ear of the ear it is that which makes the eyes see that which enables the ears to hear that which enables us to have all these conscious experiences of seeing hearing talking smelling touching remembering doing all these conscious experience are made possible by that light which is apart from this body and mind by reading this body and mind in livening this body and mind just like electricity makes the bulb shine makes the fans go round and round makes the microphone amplify sound these activities are very different going round and round in producing air is is very different from shining and producing light is very different from magnifying sound is very different from transmitting data across the internet so different these activities and yet all of them are made possible by electricity as an example in the same way our activities of seeing and hearing and smelling and remembering there are different activities but they are all made conscious illumined by consciousness so this is something different from the body mind system pervading the body mind system and enabling the different components of our body mind system to do what they are doing it makes the ear here it makes the eye see it makes the organ of speech speak that's why the teacher says is all in that strange way of putting it here of the year student what you asked for is the year of the year eyes of the eyes the organ of this speech of the speed the mind of the mind it what he means get some one thing it's consciousness which enables all these different systems to start functioning and having conscious experiences that's one part why does he use the strange language where doesn't he just say consciousness what will happen if he shaves consciousness what problem will happen the problem which has happened in two ways first problem it will happen is I'm asking for an answer what is it that makes me conscious right and all that I'm aware of is the external world is my own body mind isn't it that's what we are aware of we are aware of objects they may be gross objects in the world outside they may be subtle objects in my mind thoughts and emotions feelings the moment you say what you are looking for oh student is consciousness what will I think I'll think it's one more object that there is something out there called consciousness now to find it you will never find it if you say that oh your question is a wonderful question and the answer to your question is you are pure consciousness we find it all the time in books Vedanta books and everywhere it is said the answer is correct but it is not useful it's not useful yeah it's like that you know there's this person who was you know was the balloonist a hot air balloon he went up and then he came down at some random place in a big field and he came down there and this man walked up to him he's still in the balloon is defending and he shouts down at the man can you help me and lost where am I can you tell me and the man looks up in at him and says you're in a balloon in a man in the balloon replies are you a mathematician the man on the ground says yes how did you know is because of your answer is absolutely correct and absolutely useless which is at least useless but if you say that to the student you that that's light which you are looking for which makes all this conscious experience possible which makes your conscious life possible that light is consciousness immediately that person the student will start looking for consciousness and you will never ever find it why not not because it's not there because he is the one who's looking he is the one who's looking whatever he finds will be not him he finds something that this illumined by consciousness it's like you're looking with a flashlight and you whatever you find is not the flashlight is something which the flashlight illumines if you try to say that that is the flashlight you try to turn it around you still can't find it because it's still behind the light so the consciousness if you say it's just consciousness the person makes a big mistake of looking for it and it's not funny because we may think that's very funny all just about all the modern neuroscientists are right now making the exactly same mistake looking for consciousness they will never ever find it they will find the brain they'll find neurons they'll find neuronal activity they'll find correlation between neuronal activity and certain reported states of the mind never ever find consciousness in fact there's one more step to go in when gian philosophy in Vedanta and Sankhya beyond the body beyond the brain they found subtle matter which is the mind so one day the scientists may even find subtle matter but even that is not consciousness that's just our mind our thoughts feelings emotions so you becomes an object which you start looking for to present that the teacher does not say to the student look answer is simple you are consciousness that's a don't bother me no the teacher is now giving the answer to the question the most precise answer that can be given but also the most useful answer that can be given which the student can use can catch hold of and get enlightened you really feel realize for himself or herself what he or she is mind of the mind year of the year I of the eye knowing this says at immature Higa the word used there Sanskrit word is Veera he literally means literally in our Indian languages it means a patient person a persevering person basically a spiritual aspirant the one who is holding on to the spiritual pursuit looking for God or self-realization till he or she gets it so that's the Thira what is he supposed to do a team would cheer the Sanskrit word is very interesting what is the purpose of all this what do how do you use this you use it in this way the word I right now every word refers to something when I say pain the word refers pain refers to this this object the pen is a word and the object is this now let me ask you here is the word the shortest word I so particular what does it refer to what stopped it no I refer to this when I say I it refers to this when you say I it refers to that so what is that is the body mind here is my body and as you can see and here inside me is the mind which I only have I have got access to and this is what I mean by I when I say I it means this this is what is referred to by the passport and it says Swami server prion under such and such person this is a history is the background it refers to the body and mind and Swami Vivekananda says sit quietly and say to yourself I if any thought of the body or the mind comes to comes to you then you are not yet enlightened if the I refers through the body mind this is our condition unenlightened condition and what the I should refer to is pure consciousness this is enlightened this transferring of the reference of the I the enlightened person when he or she uses the word I it refers to consciousness often an enlightened person will refer to the body and mind as this denomination is to do it one day you will find that this is worshipped Salaam business to say when you come here is to say in induction nation temple of Kali temple of vaccination when you come here when you come to this place when you come to visit this you should bring some gifts for this that means fruits like you bring for a holy person so this often he would enlighten person will refer to body mind is this sometimes they refer to the body mind as I as in ceramic richness to say my hand is broken or I will drink a glass of water so he is referring to the body mind but that they do only for purpose of transactions with us in the punch other she Abbas antic text they say that the word eye has three meanings one two three one meaning is used by us most of us those of us who are lucky is lucky enough to be enlightened we use the word I in the first sense what does that fence body plus - that's how we use it I and no other sense but the enlightened person uses the word I in two senses one is consciousness pure consciousness the Earthmen the light within that which makes the IC and the years here and so on short rows - Ron's a crucifixion that's that one the pure consciousness by I they mean that or and sometimes they use the I to refer to the body mind in a secondary sense they know it's not right but they do it just for talking with us otherwise you think you're crazy we keep on referring to this now this is going to teach you so they the book says they use it in a secondary sense in a in a artificial sense to use that word I really for them I always means pure consciousness and this one is secondary another thing which comes out of this discussion is the body keeps changing the body is name of a series of physical changes from childhood from babyhood to childhood to teenage to youth to middle-aged to old age and disease and death the body keeps changing the mind keeps changing even faster there are such thousands of us every day and the quality of the thoughts changes imagine the mind we had when we we're 15 years old so different from what we have it now imagine the mind where he'll be saying I'm 15 okay you imagine the mind you had when you are five years old so what sort of so different so the mind keeps changing and yet here is the crucial understanding the consciousness which lights up the body mind remains the same all throughout think about it all the changes we experience are in the world outside are in the body are internal in the mind not in that which knows elements lights of these changes the consciousness is unchanging what have we learned about that light about that consciousness it is something apart from the body it's not produced by the body it makes the body mind do what the body mind does eyes are seeing ears are hearing and so on and also it is unchanging the body mind are changing it is reasonable to assume then something which is apart from the body and mind flooding the body and mind when the body dies that thing will still be there that thing will still be there but what will be the difference that consciousness will still be there the body matter that consciousness that light will still be there but what will be the difference the difference will be this when the body and mind are there you can appreciate the presence of that light when the body is not there the body dies you cannot appreciate the presence of that light anymore it's like there's electricity here when you plug a light into it bulb into it you immediately appreciate the presence of electricity light take the bulb out the electricity is still there you can't appreciate the presence of that even more interesting right now here for example in this space there is light look it's being reflected from my hand you can see my hand shining in the light if I remove the hand doesn't seem to be anything right here but it's full of light right here see I remove it seems to be nothing it's full of light but seems to be nothing in the same way they say that consciousness not produced by this body and mind it exists all the time only it acts through the body and mind it requires a body and mind to see here thinks my touch remember feel without the body and mind the consciousness does not do any of those things but it's still there in other words you the consciousness you are independent of the body the changes of the body you are not born with the birth of the body you do not get old with the aging of the body you do not die with the death of the body consciousness is immortal at the moocher here the moment you transfer the AI from the body mind and you actually not just theoretically it's difficult enough to understand theoretically and actually to feel to make that transition that I am the witness of the body and mind the consciousness when you make that you are free of the travails the the old age and the death and the changes of the body and mind you become immortal radius Marlowe God Amrita Hardy this is a healer the spiritual seeker becomes immortal mortal man becomes immortal not becomes more precisely speaking always is immortal recognizes his or her immortality but he will still die you cannot keep the body alive no matter how much gluten-free bread you eat you live better you let the body will be healthier to live better but still it's died one day but consciousness is not affected by butan or by anything else and it remains when the body goes when the body was not there the consciousness was there when the body goes when the body is there consciousness is there when the body goes also the same consciousness will be there according to Hindu Buddhist Jain or Sikh ideas there are many bodies we have a range of bodies which come and go life after life after life but the consciousness is independent of that moment the consciousness realizes itself independent of the body and mind the promise here is Amrita apparently they'd become immortal they are no longer subject to body and mind they're no longer subject to Bertrand it and that is the goal of spiritual seeking to be independent to be to be above the suffering of body and mind what this tells you what the teacher is telling the student the light which you asked for that light is there in this very body and mind it's making all this possible you're seeing hearing smelling touching everything the core idea is that light that pure consciousness and realizing that you become immortal there is a greatest gain in all this it's not just a question in neuroscience it's the most fundamental question in all of human civilization we are beginning to ask it today science is beginning to ask this question today there are people even now who say that this question is meaningless there is no such light and other than saying that is the only thing that we experience if you understand this question you will agree that it's the most fundamental thing in all our lives imagine everything was there the world was there body is there but we are not aware of anything what would life be they won't marry like then there won't be any personal subjective life for any occurs if they will only Google cars and no passengers and no drivers there would be nobody to experience anything let alone the Google cars so most important thing is this consciousness which the light within what we sang the light divine which which shines through us now the tears a student is enthusiastic like I'm sure all of us are and he asked the question yeah I would like to know this great students is brilliant so he has understood all this from the strange saying of the guru and so I would like to know this light with it tell me how do I know this light with it and the Guru says sorry I can't tell you I don't know the next next verse is very interesting it says not a critic sure that chatty Nawab got chatty no mana Naveed monavie gianni mota the missus schott I don't know how I can teach you to that and I don't know it myself why now that structure that Shetty you cannot see this consciousness you cannot see it you cannot hear it you cannot taste it none of the sense organs can reveal his consciousness to you now I've got tootie language does not suffice you that's why it's so difficult to express it with language language is not meant to express the pure subject language always operates in the domain of the object no mana you cannot think about it mind cannot know it language cannot express it sense organs you cannot see it within them with the most powerful instruments you cannot see it and hence I do not know it nor do I know how I can instruct you about it the students is hey wait a minute you're wasting my time did you call us out on the Saturday morning you could have done lot of other things and after one hour you tell me don't know how you don't know okay I'm leaving and this is then the teacher says imagine this happened thirty centuries ago he says vegetated it's not all he says there is a way of realizing it let me try it the my teacher tried it upon me and I became enlightened the teacher says let me try it upon you let's see if you become enlightened student sort of thing uh sort of sullen okay let's see and the teacher says Anja David Veritas auto-away d'etat the research room above a sharm in a study are chess actually our teachers started in this way what's the way it's like this that which you are looking for this consciousness now you understand it theoretically you want to know it practically realize it yes here it is then listen carefully it is not something that is known or is unknown it is not something that is unknown uh near a whatis very thought it is something quite different from everything that you know okay so it's something that I don't know it's quite something that's quite different from everything that you don't know what what does he mean he he needs something I'll end with this let's see if you can tell me what he means I've tried it with different audiences usually kids get it personal it's like this take it as a simple riddle what is it that you do not know and yet it is not unknown then there is something yes okay that's another riddle yes it's true it's correct but let me just give me a direct answer yes you yourself think about it you yourself do you know yourself anything that you say I know myself but look just think about your wait a minute anything that you know about yourself is either your body your personal experience your bio-data your CV your own physical body your memories your ideas thoughts they are not you we just saw they are what you the light shines through and yet can you so can you say that I don't know myself of course not what do you know more than yourself who else knows you if you do not know yourself you know yourself all the time it's just that we do not know ourselves objectively as I know this pain or this microphone or this audience or even my own body or even my own mind I do not know that which is knowing and yet that which is knowing is ever shining how is it shining it's just like all these people are here how do you know that say well because I see them you see them the proof that they are here is because you see them right how do you know that you have got eyes you can't see I see them you don't see your own eyes how do you know that you've got eyes well I see my reflection of my eyes no it's just a reflection the eyes directly do not see themselves but how do you know you've got eyes how are you so certain because you by seeing me you are sure that I am here now I'm asking is a question by seeing what are you sure that you've got eyes it's a trick question by seeing what are you sure that you've got eyes by seeing by seeing anything the moment you see this you know that not only is there a pen in Swami's hands the I also know that my eyes are open your eyes are open because you can see the very fact of seeing revealed to you not only what you are seeing but also the fact that you've got eyes the very fact of seeing is a proof that you have got eyes otherwise you couldn't see that's fair fair enough the very fact that you have a conscious experience any conscious experience is a proof is a knowledge that you are consciousness it is other than they known other than the uncle and it's the most precise way of pointing out what you are if they are not being vague they're not being tricky they're not being paradoxical they are using language the best possible way they can to directly point to what we are in reality the very essence of our being it's absolutely other than that which is known it's not an object of knowledge and yet it is not not at all unknown it's always known you know yourself first know within quotes and then you know anything else the song with it that shining everything else shines cut off finish up which will dimension just before that song khmer Ava Bantam Manu hearty serving the silvassa sarvam idam Parvati that shining everything is shined by its light everything is lit up what's that it you shining everything is shines what shines your eyes shine your ears shine your mind shines by your light is the entire psychophysical body system you call yourself the entire thing is lit up by your let that is that what you are pointing towards it's all the ways available all the time it's available what is its relation to God what is relation to spirituality that we will see the question answer session we have got some more time to discuss it as just given you the core idea the subject was the light within just like the song the light divine it's that so in one word it's your true nature what you are in Vedanta that is what is called God will see a little later that is exactly what is called calm in Indian anta that light within you all right should we conclude now and then the break and then come back for questions yes thank you very much thank you

Channel: Vivekananda Samiti IIT-Kanpur

Views: 186,514

Rating: 4.8200183 out of 5

Keywords: Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Sarvapriyananda latest, Sarvapriyananda, Sarvapriyananda latest, CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE', Swami Sarvapriyananda on 'CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE'

Id: 01fWVdfIUPs

Length: 56min 11sec (3371 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 07 2017