The Power of Bhakti | Swami Sarvapriyananda |

little difficult it is difficult here is the problem it is difficult it is it's direct it's now you're experiencing it I mean say yes I sort of get what you are saying but it's a little we find it difficult to be centered in such a thing intellectually somehow we can grasp if we make a little bit of an effort we can grasp what is being said but it somehow doesn't fill the heart it fills the heart when you are Advanced well along the path but it's not a problem with advaita vedanta there's a more problem with the adhikari problem with us the Seeker see our thing is we want something to grasp we want to see here's smell taste touch we want to think about it praise God love God feel the presence of God what advaitha will say you want to see God yes you're seeing God yes well if whatever you are seeing it is not Brahman have you thought about it Brahman Atman yes yes then if you have thought about it if you can think about it it is not brahmana are you speaking about it yes then whatever you're speaking about whatever it may be it's not Brahman now if you do that it's very difficult it is not an object of knowledge it is not an object of our awareness rather it's the awareness itself it is that simple it's awareness itself but whenever we say it is awareness itself we are objectified so the only reason why we are unable to realize it if it is already there and I am that all the time here now I am that Consciousness then why is it so difficult to realize because of this objectifying tendency of our minds that's why it's so difficult advaitha wants us to turn I will not repeat the story the tenth Man story if you have heard in panchadashi Vidya Swami uses it to good effect in one chapter so what happened at the end he was counting one two three four five six seven eight nine not counting himself tenth man he could not find and then somebody came and turned it around you are the tenth now for Tenth man it's the easy one nine people are there I am the tenth because this is also actually an object I can objectify what advaitha wants us to do is observe the panchakosha attention on the body attention on The Prana attention on the mind subtler and subtler Inward and inward more inward more subtle until you come to the castle the anandamaya and then from there you have to turn further inwards which cannot be pointed out which cannot be said also that to which the panchakosha is an object how difficult once the advaithin will say not difficult see it's absolutely obvious but if it's not obvious to me then it's very difficult to me upanishad says that Brahman Atman identity is is closer than the closest oh very good I don't get it then it is further than the furthest for you shankarachary explains closer and further not in distance it's because of knowing and not knowing Vidya Vidya in um in the 13th chapter of bhagavad-gita he says the entire thing advaitha will become clear everything becomes clear reasonable if you see the difference between knowledge and ignorance comes next out of compassion he makes it easier for us you want to see you want to conceive of you want to love pray worship yes but I don't want to dilute Brahman must be there and not substandard you cannot dilute it then the same Brahman SRI ramanuja says is ishwara bhagavan Vishnu narayana the Transcendent God in his Abode why Kunta it exists here only thing is this you have to take on faith until you have a lokika protection all that until that we have to take on faith yeah Veda is a pramana for you to a way that tells you and then it's knowledge for you that narayana srimad narayana exists in the Transcendent form I remember I can never forget this um nearly 18 years ago in gangotri I lived in one Hut in the next Hut there was a sadhu actually technically it was a brahmachari Brahma chaitanya he looked those who have seen the cinema of Lord of the Rings there was a magician the white long beard Gandalf he looked like that white dress long white beard you know and whole day and night he just spent in reading and translating yoga vashishta very interesting a completely non-dualist advice sitting there and doing that and watching the glaciers and mountains and all and all year long he would stay head stayed there for decades we all we went and came back when before navratri would come back but he would stay all year long and somebody asked him that now so many people are there titayatris and children would really like him and so he was a lot of fun but when nobody is there for six months you don't see a human face then what do you do sometimes some other sadhu who lives in a cave do you see otherwise no his answer was I am very happy now and then I will be even happier see this is the attitude of a non-dualist yesterday and I see somebody asked if I am beyond thought Beyond I understand if no thought is their body is there there's peace no problem is a good question no no no no that is then deep sleep is as good coma is good enough no word nobody no mind obviously then there's no problem also again everything will come back from a causal State the effect will always come if causes their effect will come so but advaita again I will translate once said is not for wiping out the experience of the world advaitha makes you Limitless Fearless absolutely happy and delighted you can say in samadhi I'm in great fun and when I open my eyes and see the world I mean it's greater fun happiness misery both are great fun for me advaitha makes you do that anyway why I'm introducing this is so this great completely committed non-dualist monk whole day and night is only translating yoga vashishta and studying it and you say oh it's as he translated by now he has passed away so as he can I buy the book no very interesting you translate and then after finishing this bundle of notebooks you would take throw in the Ganga and don't tell ganga action plan people in the pollution so they will throw in the ganga and start all over again that is not for publication it is for my own um needed diasana but again why am I telling this story after this whole day it would go like this at night night means evening immediately there was no electricity at that time so if duck becomes dark you go and close the doors and you stay because it's the howling wind outside very cold I would hear nearby kutia faint voice this Monk srimad Nara you know hour after hour after hour until I would Drift Off to Sleep I was so I can still hear the advice if I close my eyes see this combination so most kind it's all right narayana Vishnu is there in vaikunta but that is also little abstract I can only make I cannot conceive of it what is it like then the Lord is very compassionate says the Lord is very compassionate he comes in your heart not just in vikunta as antar Yami those who have studied um you know I'm going to talk about the five manifestations of the Lord so where is God in my contact correct but also in the hearts in our own consciousness shankara says in our own Consciousness in our hearts shreem srimad narayana exists that is why Guru gives a mantra visualize the Lotus here and visualize your Ishita devatha whichever form we Hindus are very liberal about it whichever form you take meditate here and visualize the Lord here same Lord same narayana and here in this form you can actually visualize it and you can feel it Swami prameshanji saying the picture of sudama Krishna says I see living not picture you can have a living Vision the presence of God God is in the heart SRI ramakrishna told Swami akhandananda Ji so akandanji told this monk um Swami um who lived to be more than a hundred I had asked him this question Maharaj we are studying advice Guru has given us what is the connection between the two immediately said they are not two they are one have you not heard SRI ramakrishna said in Bengali Atma whoever is your Easter devata that is the Atman of vedanta and SRI ramakrishna told and this Swami had served swamiyakandananda and he had heard it from akandanji also I heard it from him I'm telling you now that the Ishita devatha and Mantra which Guru has given is the same as the Brahman the sachidananda the pure Consciousness which you realize it is the same and not two different things that gold appearing in as in this particular ornament or that particular ornament is exactly the same gold doesn't matter what is the form of the argument so you are when you are when meditating on your Easter devata repeating the ishta mantra you are literally by the by the magic of the power of Maya by the blessings of Maya with the Nama Rupa you're contacting the same you are in touch with your same inner reality I read a very inspiring thing Swami tapasyananda ji it was in ramakrishna mylapur in Chennai vice president of our order he says when you have got the Mantra from your Guru no know that you have got God you have got God you've already got God you don't know it bye bye sadhana you have to discover it we say yes that is true but meditation Japan and also invisible I want to see can I not see and he sure is even more grace comes as Avatar ramanuja says third as a historical figure enters into human history as Incarnation Avatar Rama Krishna srirama Krishna they come in a form with a name and a form a holy Farm a holy name and a holy Leela which is recorded in history not a not theology not something that you have to take on faith or read in a book as actual human history and yet it's the same Divine present here and you can catch hold of the avatar extremely powerful way of enlightenment then one variation of that SRI Ramana yacharya mentions Avatar yes but also there was a special manifestation of Avatar to the gopis in vrindavan on one occasion that Avatar appeared as a viewer a group SRI Krishna for each Gopi separately appeared so that is even Greater Grace so in when you have the vision if you're we are lucky enough one day to hold behold actually with open eyes the form of the avatar yarishta devatha that experience that is something it's very special and rare maybe we should leave it out of the discussion but I am mentioning it particularly because I have not seen I am honest but I have seen somebody who was seeing and that is Unforgettable a sadhu in bhava in vrindavan in govindaji's Temple it is ha Unforgettable whole life if you see the face of a one who is seeing your very every hair on your body will stand on the end you know some extraordinary presences there unfortunately I cannot see but somebody else is seeing those who have seen SRI ramakrishna every day all right having the vision of the Divine mother they cannot see the Divine mother but for but but for Sri ramakrishna Divine mother is here mahakali is here he is talking with her conversing with her but everybody around they cannot see but they felt it sometimes they would go into ecstasy also so God is here in a special manifestation and then the last one even more step down came and went photograph only Maharaj in front of us we are not lucky enough to see we should not think in that way because there are many who were lucky enough to see SRI ramakrishna and dakshineswar and that they thought that mad but I'm in Priest so it's not that you would just see that he will see Avatar of course a great blessing but it also requires the grace of the Avatar only those who are blessed they can recognize the Avatar when the Avatar is actually physically present in uh in their proximity but there is one more thing much more accessible calls it he says we have a special method of closeness to God the presence of God where is God in the image which is worshiped properly installed properly and worshiped regularly in temples if you go to the temple the image or the the picture or the symbol in which God is worshiped that is God not symbol of God one of the shankaracharyas I will not name present day he said what is the um the secret of worship of image Worship in Hinduism he said the preliminary answer is that God is imminent God is all pervasive in everything and if you can worship God in a particular image it helps you to realize God it's a help it's a support it's it's a great help in your sadhana because we have this objectifying tendency so you use this technology of image worship but he says that is only a superficial understanding the reason the real deep reason why we Hindus worship God in an image in a picture in a symbol actually concretely is to remove the misconception that it is not God we say preliminary that oh we Hindus we we don't worship a wood or image you know like a metal or wood or clay or wood um Stone image we are worshiping God this is a symbol for God he says that's only a preliminary answer the real answer is it is not Stone it is Brahman it is not wood it is Brahman it is not metal it is Brahman that is the meaning of the imminence of the Divine Swami vivekantha said we Hindus worship a Transcendent imminent God a god who's Beyond creation time spatial causation sachidan and the Brahman but a God who is in and through creation waking dreaming deep sleep turia if you say turiya is something else this is waking this is dreaming this is deep sleep and um upanishad told me there is one very nice thing called turia if it's something separate other than waking dreaming deep sleep we will never get it then this waking dreaming deep sleep are separate from turia they limit turia also the turia will become a limited reality what upanishad wants to say is that that turia is waking is dreaming is deep sleep that gold is the bracelet is the necklace is the ring gold is not a Fourth Kind of ornament apart from bracelet necklace ring it's the same Consciousness which appears as the Waker and the waker's word right now it's the same Consciousness which appears as you the dreamer and your dream world is the same Consciousness which appears as the darkness of deep sleep it is consciousness in itself Transcendent beyond the three states but also in men through the three states there is nothing in the three states waking dreaming deep sleep um the the gross the subtle and the causal there's nothing there which is actually not Brahman this is the idea of the immense of the Divine the deeper meaning of image worship is that literally also you are now saying literally Stone and wood or God no no no no I am saying what I'm saying it is not Stone it is not wood it is God when we chant brahmar I don't feel hungry now we always associate with food in every action every factor of action is actually Brahman look at the commentary of shankaracharya he says means the the ladle by which offerings are made into the heaven Agni is the fire the priest the fire the ritual all of that is Brahman what is the commentary by shankaracharya very interesting Brahma that Brahma is actually it is not a wooden spoon actually it is not ugly actually it is not ghee actually it is Brahman that is the meaning of Brahma Brahman Karma what you think as the image is not an image it's not wood in the in the vision of reality it is nothing other than Brahman appearing as that in that form when you watch a movie on a screen the hero and the villain and the car and the tree and the sky and the road and the city they're all nothing but that screen light and the same light appears as in the form of those pictures says that beautiful story is there in Sri rangam are going on thousands of people remember this is one thousand years ago thousands of people standing with offerings and uh by that time sridham Anuja also was well recognized as a great archery and master with standing with his disciples and um then they noticed one young man standing there powerfully built with an umbrella so in those days they had umbrellas I think the bamboo kind of came kind of umbrella very elegant type he is holding it over the head of a young girl and looking at her continuously and people were saying what kind of behavior this is in the temple in the in this holy occasion why is he behaving in this uncultured Banner and ramanu jacharya told his disciples go and call that young man so now what will happen acharya himself has seen this fellow useless fellow then they went and said hey you come um is calling you he immediately put dumbrella down and he walked he bowed down to Sri ramanuja he asked who are you who is that girl and why are you looking at her and he said um I I am dhanur Dasa he was a wrestler and that girl is hemamba and I'm looking at her because she has the most beautiful pair of eyes in the world in the universe so I just went what kind of talk this is ramanu just said if I show you an even more beautiful pair of eyes will you would you want to see he said yes I want to see then okay today in the evening when the arati of narayana Vishnu is going on in the srirangam temple you come will they let me in said you tell I have called you they will let you in Thousand Years Later said to disciples You Know M master mahashra I'm going to have an utsav there you come there will be lot of um you know kitten and singing and will they let me in big man's house you tell that I have called you they'll let you in this message to all of us blessing to us I'll complete the story and add one more little story is there and the image the declining uh image uh in Sri Lanka it's a big big image I mean the arati is going on it's dark there and the light it seems in those days would fall part by part on the body of the image as the light fell on the face of Vishnu the declining Vishnu ramanu just touched and said see the most beautiful pair of eyes in the universe looked and he saw the living face of God and even the description is there he went into samadhi ramanuja touching him went into samadhi and the priests all around it looked into stunning surprise of course we know the story later on dhanudasa he married him Amba they became some of the closest devotees of Sri Rama but see the beauty lamp falls on the face of the uh the image the Archer look at that face with devotion with folded hands these sins the Bad Karma of all your past lifetimes will be wiped away at that moment so this is visible presence of the Lord one of the most devoted monks I have seen great advice one of my teachers but all the time he does worship of the archa the image in belur mat early morning even we used to get up at 3 40 am he would be already half his days done by that time he would get up at 2 am if he picks flowers offers it so this thing he has called one I just remembered one day I asked him you're spending so much time offering flowers to the um the image you are a great advaita Master do you need to do all this now he gave me a very simple answer which is so moving he said my belief is you know I believe if you do even a little bit for the Lord he will not abandon you he does not forget so do a little bit this is the the glory of worshiping

Channel: Vedanta Explained

Views: 80,317

Keywords:

Id: 3LrznymqQNM

Length: 24min 40sec (1480 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2023