Vast Mirror of Consciousness | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] om sh Shanty Shanty shant om lead us from the unreal to the real lead us from Darkness unto light lead us from death to immortality oh peace peace peace good morning and Namaste Namaste have you back good good to be back and good to see so many brave souls on this rather cold New York morning I saw in the news in the morning the Google News it said New York Frozen you could have told them that so this morning you can see the very poetic title of the talk the vast mirror of Consciousness is actually a translation from the Sanskrit which we will read today what I have for us this morning is a reading from um a little known text actually which is based on a very well-known text this is this book The Yoga vishas Sara let me tell you a little bit about it before we plunge into it so I was introduced to it by um a wonderful old monk um he had he had presented this to me actually Swami Shiva we knew him as Kip Maharaj I saw him in his old age in Borat um he had spent many many years in our Center in Mumbai and then uh he was in the last years he was in belat now he was unique those who if you ask any of the monks of the ramakrishna order especially the senior ones they'll all tell you that he was unique in this sense he was a strict non-dist uh strict Adin you might say but so are you Swami I am not actually I am much more run of the mill um you might think not but if you see our mons of our order we have this harmonious blend of work and devotion and the path of inquiry ad and meditation the four yogas Raj yoga Karma Yoga bti Yoga and Gana yoga and each has its own blend of it and that's that happens if you pursue the spiritual path long enough um you will have something that suits you something that is natural to you and that happens over time and this Swami was very distinctly nist at least the way he spoke and taught others and so anybody who would go to him he would be very interested he would be very happy to know if you were interested in nism in ad vant and and this would be one of the books he would present you with this is it's in Bengali it's a translation from the Sanskrit original it's called yoga vishas Sara literally the um essence of yoga vashishta and he presented this to me actually this particular book it's in tatters now it says so to Swami SV priyananda with love and best wishes Swami shivananda um this was in 2004 20 years ago um he was not only very interested in non-dualism but also he wanted it to be spread when he heard that I'm going to be posted to the United States I'm going to be sent to the United States my first posting was in our Vidant Society of Southern California in uh Hollywood so the only thing he said to me was um tell them about nism B do a thorough job of it I said I'll try Swami and over the years I barely spoke to him a few times on the telephone very few times maybe three or four times and each time he said he was a man of few words he said I've heard you're doing a good job of teaching nism I am glad he passed away a couple of years ago I always wanted to in sort of as a tribute to him and because I like this book so much I wanted to do do something on this book but the problem was there wasn't a an English translation of this text available now there is a few years ago Swami sadanand G made this beautiful translation of this text it's called the nectar of supreme knowledge and you can get it from vanta press in Hollywood I think we'll also try to get a few copies here eventually so uh nectar of supreme knowledge this is a translation by Swami sananda and of course it's aailable in India also it's published from the ramak Krishna m in Chennai uh in India yes ramakrishna Mar Chennai um this book has uh copious notes on it see this original this book was uh the Bengali book was translated and published by Swami dhes Ananda another Monk with strong non-dist predilections in our order this was a little before my time so I didn't get to see him actually he was in our K haridwar Center for many many years and decades and he was the he's the author of this book what he has done is the original verses are there just over 200 verses and then he has given um copious notes with lots of observations and insights into ad vant it's a very good way the reason why Swami our kipad used to present this book to people who were interested in ad was um that you not only read these verses there are many such books but also the amount of information packed into it in the form of small notes given by Swami danda so that made it valuable and so you get all the translation of the original verses and the notes in English in this translation all right so what is this text it's actually based on a much more well-known and famous and much much larger book The Yoga vashishta the yoga visha is a very ancient text um probably predates classical ad vant predates Shankar and others um the the setting is interesting it's a story of Rama oh the Rama Temple is being inaugurated very soon so it's very contextual the story of Rama the prince of aodha and his father the king of aoda dasar now the Young Prince um was always very spiritual had a bit of a um premature renunciation he decided to give up the world and become a monk and he said I don't want the kingdom I don't want to be a king I want to realize Brahman I want to become enlightened so I'm off uh to the mountains or forests or whatever and dashar um he was the king he was worried what's going to happen if the Crown Prince goes away eventually those who know the story of ramay he had to go away and dasar was the one who sent him away but that's how life is but initially he was very worried and he asked their um you know the Great Sage vashishta that why don't you talk to the young prince make him see sense and vashishta goes to Rama and says you want to become enlightened and realize that you're Brahman that's really good um uh very laudable in one so young but tell me one thing this Brahman that you want to realize is it other than this world which you want to give up is it somewhere else this world is not Brahman and there is some other Brahman which you want to realize and so starts the dialogue between vashishta and Rama and it's a big big book more than 30,000 verses it's full of the most wonderful stories I hope someday they make you know Hollywood they will be beat the most fascinating Hollywood Science Fiction and Fantasy movies with amazing stories of time travel time travel multiple universes and whatnot Amazing Stories and in between there are a lot of these very deep philosophical verses with philosophical insights what the author of this small text has done is extracted the nist teachings the adic teachings from that larger work and packed it into this small work this is about just over 200 verses from those 30 th000 verses so he's left the stories aside and he has just concentrated on the nism um and so we have the yoga vishas Sara who did this who made the extract who wrote this small book from the larger one we don't know we don't know um some Anonymous author some scholar or monk at some period long ago and there are Sanskrit commentaries on this so it's not a modern work it's a pretty medieval or ancient work work all right that's all by the way of um introduction one more little story I was in the mountains in gangotri and uh staying in a little Hut meditating studying begging for my food and having the time of my life and it's heaven for a monk and the next in the next Hut there was this most amazing uh monk not of our order uh his name was Brahma chaitan and uh he was this most wonderful monk he wore white he was a brahmachari elderly and uh I mentioned him on occasion earlier he picture if you have seen the movie The Lord of the Rings gandal the magician it's exactly like that except that Brahma Chan's beard was longer than Gandalf's beard and he had long locks flowing down to his waist which which would tie up in bundles and we would hang there uh so what this monk did was there's a long story his background and everything but I'll just tell you what he did all day long um he was in those mountains I went and came back he never came back he went there and stayed for the rest of his life so he was there for more than 40 years before he passed so what he did all day long was um he would sit on a wooden bench outside his Cottage and can imagine the stunning view those are the true Giants you know all soaring 15,000 20,000 ft and the glaciers running down i' had gone there in summer so there was no snow in the valley but you could see on the mountain tops there was there was snow and there are forests all around the ganga the bagati running this a narrow fast stream there running down um about a couple of hundred 100 ft below where we were and he would sit all day long and translate the yoga vashishta from Sanskrit to English he was a very educated man he was actually an engineer by training those who are from India you've heard of bits pilani so he was a graduate of an early graduate of that Institute um so he his personal life is also fascinating but I won't go into this now so he would translate the yoga vashish original book which he had I think in five volumes and he would translate into English and he had these notebooks he would sit read the Sanskrit and then translate into English and read the Sanskrit and translate into English all day long until it was time for to go for food and I would accompany him or until the sun began to set and in those mountains it's transition is just like that you Sun Goes be behind a range and it's suddenly dark and suddenly very cold never as cold as this but then there's no heating what's outside is also inside what's outside your cottage is also inside in your inside your bed inside your blanket also so it was quite uncomfortable and difficult all day long he would translate this strictly non-dualist text into English and I heard from the other monks there this is not the first time he's doing it he would finish the entire text and then take the bundle of little notebooks and then throw them into the ganga into the river and then come back and start all over again the point being not to publish not to translate or publish point being to keep his mind in that you know like a it's a meditative exercise one more little addition that this strict strictly non-dualistic monk living in the high mountains for the rest of his life he went there 40 years ago and then he lived for the rest of his life there all day long thinking about this very high abstract non-dualist theories or teachings insights and the evenings I would hear I would Retreat into my own Cottage and he would would be in his next in the next Cottage and I would hear faint plaintive voice over the Roar of the ganga he would go nay nay sh nay nay and going taking the name of God of naray of of of the Lord so this amazing combination of knowledge and devotion you know and he would go on for I don't know an hour or more like that all right now let's start what we're going to do so I've selected just one verse from which the topic of today's talk has come this is from the the 10th verse of the second chapter this book is divided into 10 chapters just over 200 verses 10th verse of the second chapter it goes something like this [Music] beautiful verse it means in the vast mirror of your Consciousness in sense of Consciousness means your the self which is consciousness so you are the vast mirror which is consciousness in the vast mirror of Consciousness which is your real self the entire panoply of all objects this entire material objective universe everything that is out there known and unknown and your body our bodies and our minds remember in the vidan OR sanan cosmology it's not just a material Universe when you say universe it's a gross physical material Universe also a subtle Universe our thoughts emotions the mind and the universe are part of one Universe the universe has these two aspects a physical external aspect and a subtle internal aspect and that's also the universe that's also the universe so all of this all this vast Universe external physical internal mental all of it is these are reflections in the vast mirror of Consciousness which is yourself there are reflections in you the vast mirror of Consciousness one more example he adds just like the trees on the shore of a great lake reflected in the lake right off two examples one is mirror example mirror and Reflections example the other one is trees reflected in a lake both are reflection examples one is a mirror one is a lake right off one thing we need to be clear about and put out out of our minds is the question oh so there's a world and there's a mirror and the world is reflected in the mirror I have a face and the face is reflected in the mirror um that's okay there is a world and we experience it in Consciousness that's plain common sense no that's not what is meant you forget the external world you forget the trees on the shore of the lake just take the mirror see they didn't have computers and TVs in those days you know computer screens otherwise you would have given that kind of an example all they had was mirrors and lakes they had mirror actually so mirrors and lakes so they took just the mirror take the mirror and the reflection in the mirror forget what is being reflected there you just put it out of your mind not the shore or the trees but the trees which you see you know inverted in the lake we have some of us have had that experience we went to that retreat in Star Lake in New Jersey and it's a very big very calm lake especially early in the the morning and if you it's surrounded by forests and low-lying Hills so if you look into the lake in the morning you will see the trees all inverted in in the clear water of the lake you will see the sparkling Blue Sky uh you might even see a bird flying through it it's interesting the action of the bird is clearly there it's flying you can see in the reflection in the lake and the more still the water is the more clearly you can see the flying of the bir so all of that you see I have seen a similar thing in a place called Lon lake in Canada in British Colombia very beautiful Lake similarly all the surrounding forests and the sky and the hills are reflected in the lake um why go so far right here in Central Park um in the very eloquently descriptively named Lake which is called named the lake so there also when the water is very still you can see the B bridge and the Eldorado and all of these buildings and all the trees reflected perfectly there just take that the lake and what you see in the lake forget the surroundings you might ask why because that's how an example Works Sak Krishna said in Bengali UPI an example is meant to prove a point don't stretch an example beyond what it what it's trying to show because they using an example to show us something it's not meant to be about lakes or mirrors or the world or trees not like that uh it's meant to be about Consciousness and the universe that's what it's supposed to trying to make a point about it so when you say as Brave as a lion so you mean the person National Geographic assures us lions are not particularly brave but it's the lionesses which do all the work actually but anyway as Brave as a lion you mean the person is brave you don't mean that person goes around on all fours and growls and pounces on you and eats you up don't mean that you mean just one thing so an example is meant to prove one thing and the one thing that you need to see here is there is a mirror in which all the objects you put it out here you can see the streets and the building and the people and the trees and the sky you can see everything turn it around you can see your own face there so you can see that and there's a lake in which you can see the world reflected in that the reflection it just looks like that um I remember a similar example many many years ago which was very striking um in India in a train night journey in a train and it was dark outside so when I looked out through the window what did I see I saw the the compartment we were sitting in and the coach we were sitting in and the people and the lights and the but it was just darkness outside there was nothing else outside there's wind rushing by so it's just a reflection there but you see as if there's a world presented there this reminds us of um another beautiful hymn those who have studied vedantic literature damti St shankaracharya himm a himm to Shiva facing south so Shiva in the um form of Guru who gives us insight into non-duality so Shiva facing south daksham morti him to that and the first verse is amazing and has this exact same this example it goes very profound and moving hymn it says the universe is like a city seen in a mirror the universe is like a city seen in a mirror what's the mirror here Consciousness but then shankaracharya makes that clear n within oneself don't think about a real city outside it's just take the city scene in a mirror and why I found that very evocative was once as a kid with my parents I still have very clear memory we were approaching the city of baneshwar where I grew up as a kid and we were coming from the city of katak um and in those days on the highways there were no street lights it dark and as we approached the city we could see the city reflected in in the driving mirror the mirror of the car I still remember an amazing evocative site it was just glittering lights in the distance and as we approaching it so the city was there and you could see it in the mirror a whole city in a mirror and a little mirror that that took the world seen in the mirror of Consciousness and then don't think about a real city outside just the city inside Shankar aara makes it clear and then in order to make it even more clear in that Shankar aara introduces another example we have the mirror example we have the lake example he introduces another very powerful example used often um a metaphor used often in vidanta the dream example so he says as you see a world in your dreams when you fall asleep you see a world in your dreams just like that a city seen in a mirror the universe seen in consciousness all right now we're going to dive into this what does it mean and what does it mean for us we will use the examples and then we will apply it to uh what it wants to show us what does it want to show us it wants to tell us that we are pure Consciousness and this entire universe is an appearance within us this is an advanced text this one this particular verse remember this is meant to be an answer to Rama why should I not give up this world get rid of this world I'm going to go to the mountain sit and meditate I don't want to have anything to do with anybody and I want to become enlightened why not tell me why not and this verse is actually building up to an answer it's an advanced verse advanced in what sense in ad vant there are two steps first you realize yourself as pure Consciousness who am I not this body not this mind this witness Consciousness I am Swami viand says never think of yourselves as the body or the Mind always know that you are the spirit this is the secret know yourself to be the spirit and then consider the world to be a series of paintings like paintings on canvas these are his words so this is the first step actually in ad vanta that technically this is called the the discernment of the self from the not self the discernment of the self from the not self the separation of what we truly are from what we we are not and this goes to the adic analysis of our problem what's our problem he says actually ad says you really have no problem as you truly are viand would often say to Americans here that if only you knew yourself as you truly are then we have no problem but what has happened is what we think of ourselves is a mixture of what we truly are and what we are not and this mixture is what we consider ourselves to be and this is the root of our problems so ad vant says unless we clear up this mixture unless we separate this not physically in our understanding first unless we have some clarity about what exactly we are we're never going to solve the problem so the first step is this discernment between the self and the not self how is that accomplished consider the unique nature of consciousness of awareness I'm using the word Consciousness awareness indifferently just right now we are conscious let us try when I speak let us try to notice it what we're going to talk about is present right here this is one of the beauties of the adic approach if I were to give you a lecture on yogic meditation that lecture wouldn't be yogic meditation it would be a set of instructions philosophies and all then you would have to try it out actually you know sit and close your eyes and breathe and in a you know pranayama and then withdraw your mind and so on and focus and visualize and so so on if I were to give you a lecture on B of Rama or Krishna that lecture itself wouldn't be a wouldn't be bti one one would have to cultivate it however in contrast what we are talking about here in adant is present always is present right now ad just invites us to take a look as as simple as that let's try to take a look notice when you are seeing when we are seeing right now we are aware we are conscious it's a conscious experience it's a I can use many words for it it's a conscious experience it's happening in Awareness it's um you know a first person experience it's a subjective experience philosophers call it qualia you're you're having this first person experience when we see we are aware what we see keeps changing you were seeing something else earlier now it's change a little bit um when we hear we are aware when we smell taste touch all of that we are aware aware aware seeing and smelling and tasting and touching and hearing they are all very different from each other they use different kinds of physiology different kinds of inputs but one thing common to all of them is awareness and it is the same awareness let us take a moment to consider that yes I the same awareness um I'm there when I'm seeing I'm there when I'm hearing and smelling and tasting and touching though hearing smelling seeing are very very different from each other one common factor is this awareness not only all sensory experiences in the experience of the body not only the experience of the world not only the experience of the body but when we close our eyes and look inside introspect how am I feeling how are you feeling right now what are you thinking of right now what are you remembering what do we what do we want right now when we look into our inner private World thoughts memories impulses feelings and in and through all of them we are aware whatever we're thinking of we are aware we may not be aware we may not be paying attention to something but awareness a baseline awareness background awareness is always there Consciousness is always there in thinking in Remembering in Desiring in hating in being happy in being miserable when neuroscientist said the IBM supercomputer deep blue is very smart it can beat chess Grand Masters but it can't suffer a mouse is not smart in that way but it can feel pain so when we feel pain we are aware it's because of awareness in fact it's because of awareness that we're feeling pain so pain pleasure what whatever we our entire inner world is illumined by awareness it's the same awareness which enables us to see hear smell taste touch all our waking is pervaded by this awareness and our dreams too the whole waking World disappears when we go into a dream world awareness is there and it's the same awareness which experienced allowed us to have the first person experience of the waking world the same awareness which Contin new in the dream world memory is different we have forgotten that we are sleeping it's a new world but same awareness and vant insists this is stunning but is important to appreciate it insists that in the Deep blankness of you know complete blankness of deep sleep no waking no dreaming just deep sleep there is still awareness the awareness of blankness absence I often say the Deep Sleep is not uh an absence of awareness it's an awareness of absence in deep Sleep is an awareness of absence a total absence in deep Sleep in coma in anesthesia awareness continues nevertheless all throughout our days months years one the body will die and pass away vant claims there's quite a little bit of simple but subtle argumentation here body may pass away awareness will continue what kind of argumentation at this point one may ask one little fact for consideration think when we fall asleep we lose complete sense of this body the body is on the bed and sleeping we lose sense of it we lose sense of the time and place that it's night it's this room bedroom no we forget all that there's a new time a new dream place um you have a new body in the dream now if awareness can continue subjectively speaking without uh acknowledging the physical body sleeping on the bed subjectively speaking that shows to us we can continue to be aware without any awareness of this body from there an internal argument like a phenomenological argument and there is an external argument also when a person dies when a person dies what dies you just have ask a doctor it's the body which dies how do you know the person is dead all the symptoms are symptoms in the body but when that person was alive right like right now when we look at the person next to us we are not interacting just with the body we're interacting with the sentient being look at the slight of hand the trick that we play on ourselves when a person is alive we are interacting with that person alive the life person as a sentient being not just the body when the body dies the sentient being is not available to us for interaction and we say that one is dead how do you know what has happened is the body is dead this moves on the um the crucial assumption that the sentient being the conscious being is being generated by the body so the body is destroyed there's no other being left that's the assumption but it's an assumption and one which is seriously challenged today you might think this is where it starts talking about the hard problem of Consciousness no I won't it's just that that is a serious challenge in modern Consciousness studies if you Google it that's the Hot Topic now that the irreducibility of the of Consciousness to the brain the irreducibility even of mind to the brain mind and Consciousness not being the same so we are this one Consciousness in our days and weeks and months in our waking and dreaming and sleeping this one luminous Consciousness every everything else changes this is one Consciousness which gives us subjectivity this is the essence of the sense of self sense of self is constituted by many things memories narrative and whatnot but those things can change that essential subjectivity given by by Consciousness does not change and this Consciousness is an impersonal Consciousness notice all personality comes from the body all personality comes from our memories our own narratives about about ourselves but Consciousness by itself is entirely impersonal vant says that is who you are it is that Consciousness already we see you know the problems of the body mind are in the body mind Consciousness itself doesn't have the problem of Aging Consciousness itself doesn't have the problem of depression or frustration those are in the mind and the body so this is what is already assumed by this verse before this verse starts a clarity about ourselves as Consciousness and this not only that this is one impersonal Consciousness Vidant would claim it is the same Consciousness in all of us it is the same Consciousness in all of us bodies are different our minds and personalities are different as persons we are different but as the witness Consciousness we are same same not of the same type in philosophy there's a difference between Type token so not of the the same type we are literally the same Consciousness there's only one Consciousness in 13th chapter in Gita Krishna says there is one Consciousness in all bodies and Minds one knower of the field in all fields and I am that that's the idea of God in vidanta the one Consciousness shining through all bodies and Minds we are that one Consciousness someone what say so are you saying we are God V implies that yes essentially and this was the non-dual Insight of Mystics in every religion not only Vidant in Kashmir shiism in Christian mysticism maart says the ground of my soul and the ground of God are one and the same ground this we are talking about that ground that ultimate ground somebody um from the United Kingdom sent me a cup yes a cup and I want to thank her she sent me a very nice letter along with it she heard one of these talks and about am I God and so the cup says OMG I am G smile and a smiley face there and a smiley face which says OMG I am yes in that sense not in the sense of uh I am the creator of the universe I'm omnicient omnipotent omnipresent no that would be megalomania in the sense of being pure awareness the ESS sense of what we are and sense of what is God is the same Essence that's the meaning of that Dai all of this is assumed that's why I'm saying this is an advanced text this was a preliminary foundational work now the next step what this verse answers the vast mirror of Consciousness what is it trying to answer the question it tries to answer is this all right your Consciousness and it doesn't take too much of thinking to come to that position many philosophers have come to that position the really tricky question question is all right I am the witness Consciousness I'm aware of the world I'm aware of the body I'm aware of the mind I am not the mind not the body I am not the world I am the witness Consciousness Shankar aara would sing I'm not mind I'm not intellect I'm not memory I'm not even the ego I'm not the body made of five elements then what am I sh I am of the nature of bliss Consciousness I am Shiva I am Shiva fine fine we'll grant you that but now the crucial question what is the relationship between this witness Consciousness which you are right now you are we're not talking about something esoteric we're not talking about something after death or after some spiritual experience it's right now it's right now it's this very Consciousness with which we are living our lives this is very Consciousness with which we love and hate and fight Wars and be cruel to each other and be spiritual and philosophical and artistic all of that we're doing that with that same Consciousness right here right now so what is the relationship between this Consciousness and everything else you have rejected you said I am the witness of the world I'm not the world I'm not this body I'm not the thoughts and the emotions and the memories they're all witnessed object I am the pure subject they are objects I am the Consciousness therefore thereof what is the relationship between you and this universe so are you separate are you one are what and this is an important question in some ways even a materialist scientist would not seriously dispute what we are saying now you would just say it's you're giving a subjective perspective but the scientist's major comeback would be the materialist major comeback would be look I really don't want to dispute you on this that you feel that you're Consciousness you're the witness good we will give you that but what I want to say is this wonderful consciousness of yours is nothing but a byproduct of material processes going on in the brain when the brain is dead and gone you're dead and gone kaput finished there's nothing left over so matter the objective Universe which you said I am not that I the witness of that that has generated you this brain has gener erated you this brain nervous system has generated what you call yourself this wonderful Consciousness now this is the materialist perspective the vedantic perspective is just the opposite it wants to say that this entire universe is actually grounded in Consciousness Consciousness is not grounded in the universe Consciousness is not being produced by the brain it's not part of the brain it's not part of the processes of the brain it's related there's some correlation but it's not Cession it's not produced by the brain and this is where the hard problem of Consciousness the irreducibility of mind to the brain all of these come in now we will bring into play the examples the mirror the vast mirror of Consciousness mirror and Reflections you put a mirror here you will see the entire Hall and all the people everybody reflected in the mirror the lake and the trees and the sky and birds reflected in the lake we bring in into play here notice one thing first the mirror is the ground the basis the support of all these Reflections see the if you put a mirror here and if you see the hall and the lights and the chairs and the people the carpet and the space everything in the mirror now this reflection depends entirely on the mirror take the mirror away reflection will go away the ground of that reflection is the mirror in the same way we ground the basis the support of this experienced universe is consciousness the ground the basis the support of this universe is you as Consciousness the lake example the basis of the Reflections in the lake the trees you you see there the brilliant Sky you see there the hills you see there reflected in the lake the basis of all that is the water of the lake and if you remove the lake if there's no water if it dries up no reflection the dream Universe the entire basis of all the people in the dream the places you visited in the dream whatever was experienced in the dream the basis is the dreaming mind if that mind wakes up no more dream so this is the first Insight this one wants to give us is that whatever we experience as the world is supported by me the experiencer by me this Consciousness this vast mirror of Consciousness now vast Spar is a beautiful word meaning vast Limitless what do you mean vast what do you mean Limitless it's like this consider water and waves so if you see waves in the lake or in the ocean out there thousands of waves and in one sense the waves all seem distinct from each other you know can say look at that big wave look at that very distant wave look at that little wave look at that wave which is breaking into surf on the shore so we can talk about different waves but if you look at water water is common to all the waves and follow this there seems to be a boundary between one wave and the next but if you consider water where is the boundary cuz the water is on this side water in in other side in the middle water if you take water there is no limit between the two waves no cutting off between the two waves why two waves there's no cutting off in the entire ocean so from the perspective of water water is not limited by the waves because the waves are nothing but water everywhere there is a wave there is water water is not limited by the waves use this example for the mirror Reflections and the lake Reflections the mirror is not limited by the reflections so what I mean by this is if I have a mirror here and you can see the whole Hall reflected in the mirror now if I say um if I ask you the mirror you know we all limit each other where you and the other person begins where this Hall ends the outside begins so they all limited from each other they're separated from each other but in the mirror in the mirror where you see people and you see chairs and you see the inside the hall outside the hall everything in the mirror from the perspective of the mirror the glass the glass is not limited by any of them this person is different from the other person is the same glass through them the glass does not stop when one person begins in in real life here one person stops when the other person begins empty space starts where the occupied space ends but the glass is not limited by anything in the reflection is this understandable or the water in the lake the water which constitutes the lake look at the trees and the tree line and the sky and the clouds they're all different from each other one tree is different from the other the bird is different from the tree but the water in the lake in which those Reflections are appearing is not limited by the bird or the trees or the cloud it's all water seamlessly without any any problem you can reflect 100 trees in the water it's not that the water will be squeezed out if you reflect 200 trees in the water because it is every bit of it is the water similarly the argument here is you as Consciousness you are not limited by what is reflected in you the universe does not limit you therefore the vast mirror of Consciousness that is not our Common Sense understanding of Consciousness we feel I am aware and the spark of awareness and here is this world outside me which definitely limits me because this is not me and this is me this is I and story about I I don't know it's not relevant but something to cheer people up in the middle of abstract metaphysics the Gates of Heaven and I think who's de St Peter St Peter says who's there and this person says it is I and everybody was saying it's me it is I and St Peter says oh good another English teacher the V vast mirror of Consciousness vast in the sense it's not limited by anything that appears in Consciousness in life here we seem to be different from each other is it getting a little warm Tad warm in here can switch on the fans for a short while no some of you look seem to be that one that one that fan there yes just for a short while if you start feeling cold we can switch it off again people look look a little not so conscious anymore so this is the first thing to realize that the mirror is the basis the support of the reflections and the mirror is not limited by the reflections the water is the basis the support of all the um trees and everything reflected in the water similarly you the Consciousness you are the basis the support of this universe we are not a tiny little thing separated from the universe observing you know like peeping and observing into into the universe no the entire universe is appearing in US you're the basis of this universe let's go a little deeper notice another thing about the Reflections in the mirror and the Reflections in the lake in the mirror when you see people and streets and cars and trees there really aren't people and streets and cars and trees it's just glass it's just a mirror really it's a mirror it looks like people it looks like and they look they do people things cars do car things and streets do Street things one of our swamis ashokananda g once he was giving a talk this universe it's Consciousness acting as a table Consciousness acting as a chair and somebody said if it's really Consciousness why doesn't he move a little bit and that would be bad acting so it is it's just glass and if you look in the mirror in in the lake if you see trees and clouds and birds flying around in the reflection of the lake if you touch them you won't touch a tree or a cloud or a bird you'll just touch water your hands will get wet now what I mean by this is in the mirror there is only the mirror though a whole city may appear in it in the lake there's only water though a forest and a hill and a bird may appear in it in Consciousness there is only Consciousness though a universe may appear in it in you there is only you though an other may appear in it this is the great doctrine of Brahma jagat Brahman is real Consciousness is real the world is an appearance in the words of Sri ramak Krishna somebody asked SRI ramak Krishna um in one sentence teach me in one sentence so that I may attain to spirituality and SRI ramakrishna said immediately Brahman is real the world is an appearance realize this Swami brahmanand writes having said this SRI ramak Krishna fell silent as if to emphasize there's nothing more to be said so this is the new insight we get from the mirror example and the lake example what do we get in the mirror there's only the mirror there aren't people in the mirror Reflections yes but there aren't people in a mirror there aren't cars and streets there isn't a city there isn't Manhattan or the city of baneswar in the mirror no no no there's only the mirror there's an appearance of a city Consciousness is real the world is an appearance in Consciousness you are real the world is an appearance in you in the words of of the idealist British philosopher Bradley who said um reality never appears and what appears is not real is a play on the word appearance you know appearance is two things what appears to you is appearance and what pretends his appearance so reality never appears but what appears is not real now at this point somebody might object some people don't like the word false andand said you don't to use the word false why say false we are going not from falsity to truth but from lower truth to higher truth it's the same thing ad V also says two tiers of Truth relative empirical transactional truth this world and here everything works your credit card will work the subway Works thankfully and the city will work and clear the snow thankfully all of that works so you call it transactional truth relative truth empirical truth but what ad says is there is a higher truth and that's true of the mirror example also in the mirror example also you will see cars driving around people talking and all of that although there are no people no cars nothing the higher truth is that it's a mirror and the transactional truth is things are happening why this lower truth to higher truth language is important language is important is um because if you just say false M false you're calling into question all human Pursuits you get although ad vant does not mean it that way but still you get a feeling of saying so ad says science is false and art is false and religion even ad vant is false so all of that is falsity we're immersed in falsity ad V says no we can change the language we can be more politically correct and say it's lower truth and there's a higher truth what does that mean it means lower truth means false actually but anyway just to just to keep you happy we'll say it's lower truth but it's important in the sense ad has no problem with science or you know politics or conventional religion or morality no all of those things are important at their level of Truth they work and it's important nagarjuna nearly 2,000 years ago one of the greatest Indian philosophers he says in his M Madara the Buddha taught two truths the ultimate truth and the relative truth he says the paramar absolute truth and the relative truth and then he goes on to say um no one attains to the ultimate truth without taking the help of relative truth so ultimate truth yes it's there pure Consciousness and it's you but but you need a little bit of help in the relative truth which is like coming to the Vidant Society on a cold morning and listening to a Vidant talk all of it is relative truth and within brackets false but but it we need this scaffolding to show us what we truly are so this is the deeper Insight what was the first Insight Consciousness Mirror Lake is the basis of the reflection Consciousness is the basis of the universe ground of the universe second it is the ground which is real what is supported by the ground is not real it's not like this table supporting a book the book is also real the table is also real not like that it's more like a mirror and a reflection lake and a reflection dream and its contents like that so brah the brah and Consciousness is real the world is false world is an appearance in Consciousness what about me am I real or false will be told you you are Consciousness you are real you are the reality itself further go deeper take at this point take a look at the implications of what we have just been saying this is where you can cash it in and enjoy the benefits of it this implies Freedom falsity cannot impact reality Shankar aara says all the water in a mirage is not enough to wet one grain of sand in the desert whatever this world can offer whatever it can tempt you with and whatever it can terrify you with it cannot add or take away one bit from you ashtavakra sings in me the infinite ocean of Consciousness the waves of this universe arise let them arise let them subside I neither increase nor am I diminished thereby in me the Limitless ocean of Consciousness let Birth come let death come I'm not increased not diminished by that that success come or failure come I'm not increased or diminished thereby let Joy come or Misery come I'm not increased or diminished thereby in the ultimate sense transactionally all those things will go on ups and downs in the ultimate sense I am not diminished or increased by nothing this world will do can add one bit to you even vant what can it add to you with all this nothing it can only show you what you already are it didn't do one bit to you the ultimate truth is you your real real nature it's you already so you realize that vant shows you this what's the what's the effect what are the consequences in that case nothing that happens in this world nothing that happens in the reflection can affect the mirror there may maybe um take the mirror there in the lake the lake is frozen there mirror doesn't become cold if there's a fiery explosion the mirror doesn't burn up the reflection if you can see the reflection in the mirror mirror doesn't burn up whatever is reflected the reflection cannot affect the mirror the world does not affect the vast mirror of Consciousness you this is freedom this is MTI MOA Nana while experiencing the world the world with its display of the world this there um summer has gone and now winter has come you the Consciousness in which this is appearing is exactly the same you were neither very hot in summer not very cold in Winter Consciousness is free childhood middle age old age body I see the tree reflected in full bloom in this in the in the water when you see the water the Glorious display of the tree when you see there you go to pluck one flower you will not get anything water only and the same Tree in winter is a mass of sticks all leaves have fallen if you go to touch that and feel bad for that reflection no it's the same water youth has gone away old age will come there will be wrinkles and the body will slow down why even the Mind may slow down as the brain slows down you are absolutely fine not as a matter of rhetoric not as a matter of positive thinking as a fact you have to see this is also appearing in the vast Lake Of Consciousness which everybody is we are that same one vast Lake Of Consciousness you are free of the travails of the body you're free of the travails of the Mind the Mind May kick up a storm unhappiness depression restlessness in the midst of the stormiest thing going on you know reflect it in the mirror the mirror is not stormy the mirror is is perfectly all right the dream example which Shankar AAR speaks about in the dakam Muti stra what happens when we snap out of a nightmare we say oh thank God it was a dream nothing bad has happened the Waker is not affected by what happens in the dream you that vast mirror of Consciousness which we are is not affected one day this might sound a little morbid one day the body will go for all of us so sooner or later that day I'm being sort of tongue in cheek look back and say hey that Swami guy was right I'm still there no big deal yeah this is freedom freedom not by running away from this world and then sitting safely in a quiet Himalayan Mountain which I did not in that sense uh but Freedom right here in the midst of everything because this is a reflection in the mirror that you are the mirror of Consciousness this reflection in the vast Lake which you are this is a dream in the dreamer that you are it does not affect you in the Deep sense it will affect the body it will even sometimes affect the mind but if you strongly assert this knowledge in the mind the mind at least will be safe from the travails of this and to some extent the body also will benefit from the peace in the mind I have seen this demonstrated again and again it's Not Mere Theory it's direct experience and I've seen monks not just monks devotees who have practiced this and they don't have to practice it in this way some have practiced it in a devotional way a complete surrender to God what is God it's this vast mirror of Consciousness as if seen from the outside vianda says this your real nature as if seen from the outside is what religions call God but if you have have that the guts and the HPA to go ahead and say OMG I AMG then then it this is directly available to all of us and we see at least at that from that perspective it is all right from the from a very deep perspective existentially we have no problems this is called MTI this is called freedom in the most Restless mind the most peaceful mind same vast mirror of Consciousness the most depressed mind pain of depression and unhappiness the most relaxed and cheerful mind same vast mirror of Consciousness if I were not the same vast mirror of Consciousness even the experience of depression would not have been possible if I were not the same vast mirror of Consciousness even the cheerful happy go lucky life wouldn't have been possible I am that aham Brasi I am Consciousness one more point and then I'll be done we have to go even further so these are the benefits which you enjoy take a look at the benefits take a look at yourself as the vast mirror of Consciousness and notice everything that we experience in life is an appearance in this vast mirror of Consciousness and then look at the benefits from the perspective of yourself as the vast mirror of Consciousness what problem do you have pain pain is in the body unhappiness in the Mind One monk told told me a very wise thing how do you apply vidanta he said don't misplace things oh monk put things where they belong in Hindi he said if there is pain don't take it upon yourself don't say oh I am in so much pain I am not in pain I am the vast mirror of Consciousness in which pain is being experienced it's an appearance which is literally true literally true that's the actual accurate description is there Pain by itself is there even I by myself and my Pain by myself no it's all in Consciousness and that Consciousness was never in pain pain how can Consciousness have pain Consciousness can illumine the pain in the body desire and frustration in the vast mirror of Consciousness this wave of Desire arose and it was not fulfilled it was there is a consequence reaction of frustration or anger or unhappiness I am the same tranquil mirror of Consciousness think about it this way forget the world for a moment drive away all worldly thoughts all concern about the world the people about ourselves about our own lives drive away all memories forget what was there even one minute ago the entire life forget complete Amnesia then shut the senses I'm not seeing hearing smelling tasting touching anything absolute Stillness I'm still aware and that awareness by itself what does it need nothing without asking the mind without asking memories without asking the world what does Consciousness need nothing what is consciousness afraid of without looking at the world mind memory senses what is consciousness by itself afraid of nothing what does it desire nothing what are you waiting for as Consciousness nothing what problem do you have as Consciousness nothing are you bored no no interesting so and this is just a thought experiment but when you actually look and stay with it you'll begin to see it's a fact not a thought experiment beyond all thought illumining all thoughts is that one Consciousness all right one more last point which it's very important point I'll say that and wrap up Shankar AAR makes it in his who you remember the man who was sleeping and dreaming now at the time of waking up this one realizes the self as nondu we're coming to nity now the self as nonu what does it mean imagine what happens when we wake up when we wake up from a dream we realize oh first of all it was a dream this is real we sit up on the bed and think that and then whatever we saw in the dream whoever we saw in the dream do they constitute an other to me the dreamer are they countably suppose I saw 100 people in the dream when I wake up what do I say were there 100 people I and 100 others 101 he said no in all my dreams there was only one what about all the other people what about all the other things you saw places you visited they were not countable others apart from myself I eat a cookie and I like it in my dream I eat three more do I wake up and say oh I've got to watch my sugar I ate four cookies we don't say that we don't count the three dream cookies so what we saw in the dream is not counted everything in the dream is not is not a countable second there's only one without a second the dreamer you the dreamer so the dream the content of the dream are nondu with respect to you they are not a second we've seen what sense they're nonel they are you everything and everybody in the dream was you in fact you means you the dreamer the one who woke up similarly everything reflected in the mirror are there really countably many many people cars streets um Birds um trees in the reflection in the mirror not at all this is only a mirror only one thing the mirror so the mirror is non the the city seen in the mirror is nonu with respect to the mirror there's no second thing there Adam similarly in the lake there aren't 100 trees and a mountain and birds no there's only one water and that water is nondu with respect to the what was reflected in it because you can't deny it was a reflection you saw something there that's what you saw is not a second it is that one thing appearing as other similarly in Consciousness in the vast mirror of Consciousness the entire universe appears but as nondual not really as a second there is nobody here who is not you nobody every stranger everybody who ever lived or will live who Liv is living now every human being every plant animal every sentient being every non sentient being and remember the very simple incident of the holy mother Shara Dei in there simple Village in jaati in the small village in Bengal and this lady was sweeping the village card and having swept it she tossed the broomstick away and the mother rushed in and said what is this my dear uh don't do that even that broomstick has its own dignity and its place and she carefully lifted it and put it in its place the last thing very last thing she said before her passing she said to the women who were attending to her in her last hours she said the world is your own there's no one here who is an other learn to make the world your own do not look upon the faults of others if you must look upon your own faults if you must find fault look upon your own faults because no one is an other make the world your own nondual they are not a second apart from you the mirror the reflections are not a second apart from the mirror they are the mirror though they appear to be houses and people and things like that similarly this world other people they seem to be other but they are that same one vast mirror of Consciousness appearing as this person and that person and so on let me repeat that uh beautiful verse um the in the vast mirror of Consciousness the entire range of objects in this universe appears as Reflections just like trees reflected the trees on the shore reflected in a great lake I'm reminded of a line from a poem by arabindo who wrote about his Enlightenment the the Eternal self in a little poem he says what was it like he says it's the world drowned in an immortal gaze that's a good way of putting it right now we are so absorbed gazing upon the world we we are absorbed in what we are seeing you turn inwards into the sear as the sear becomes becomes pronounced becomes clear you begin to notice instead of seeing what is reflected in the mirror become aware of the mirror even while the reflection is there become aware of the mirror you will see the mirror will become predominant and if you see what's there there you won't say it's a city you would say it's a mirror as the sear becomes prominent sear becomes dominant the world drowned in an immortal gaze what is that Immortal gaze you are that Immortal gaze you are that Limitless Consciousness so vish's reply to Rama was this very world you are seeing it's not something that you can toss aside or you should toss asde or you need to toss asde you are the very support of this world first second you are real the world is an appearance what is an appearance cannot affect you Rama even while the kingdom and everything is appearing it is you are free of it that's the implication why would you want to run away from this should not because you're making a fundamental mistake a philosophical mistake and finally you are nonu Consciousness there's literally when you say I am Brahman you're literally saying there is nothing apart from me so what is it that you're trying to give up in the midst of the world you are Limitless Consciousness when the world disappears as it will every night it disappears you are Limitless Consciousness not one bit better or worse absolutely fine the world disappears in deep samadi in the waking State itself if you practice deep meditation you one can abstract oneself by the force of practice a pure still mind can abstract oneself even while awake from the world the world will disappear you will still be that one vast mirror of Consciousness that's what ad is pointing towards I pray to Sri Rak Krishna masar and Swami Vive Ananda to shower Their Blessings on us so that we may come to see sometime in this life as soon as possible at least before bodily death this vast mirror of Consciousness and realize that it is it is one nonuel the ground of this universe ever free of suffering and then our lives will be a blessing to ourselves and blessing to others om shant shant shant that's [Music] shishna yeah stand up and tell us your name and ask the question I'll repeat it for the benefit of the um my name is VI yes bless to see you in person for the first time unable to gra the two sides of the argument that we have one is that we are all one Consciousness on the other side I as an individual generate Karma yes in this life and I have generated K in my previous life and all this will fructify at some point yes so how do I connect the two of one being one consiousness among all of us and this individual guy who's generating the mirror and reflection example so the question was VI is asking um there's two s of it yes we are one Limitless Consciousness but I'm also this individual guy VI who has had a past life and has past karmas which are fructifying in this life and whatever I'm doing in this life will give results in a future life this is what we believe this is the the idea that we have got in not just Hinduism in Buddhism jism in all the Indian religion Sikhism and so on so and other religions also what you s so you reap uh how do you connected to one ever free Consciousness you do it in these two levels the mirror and the reflections the reflections may be engaged in many activities they may be going through Karma and the results of karma generating more karma but all the time what is it actually it's the mirror the more we are focused on the reflections what is appearing in the mirror then the drama of samsara will will take hold of us the more you focus on the mirror and see that oh that's what's going on here it's the mirror and all of this VI will live out his life but when you identify with the mirror one amazing thing will happen the one who identifies with the mirror will be saved from suffering will attain to peace and wholeness and will also come bring to end that individual cycle of lives which he was going through he or she was going through that is called Moka not only that even before the individuals cycle is over right here and now as I said when you realize you are the mirror you're free actually I'll put it in via's words who brings these two things together via says good good bad bad none escape the law whosoever wears a farm wears the chain too that's Karma Good Karma good Bad Karma bad none escape the law whosoever wears the form what's the form VI form Ser prand form and we are bound by a chain what is this chain the chain of causality stretching back to immeasurable time cause an effect cause an effect and producing this now will produce something else in the future so what can we to do here says but far beyond name and form is Atma never free no thou art that sasi b say om so far beyond this is the self self means who what is that self it's ever free well good for it but I am trapped no no no self means you you are the self you are that vast M of Consciousness you are free and you step back from the reflection of vi vi reflection will do its thing and then disappear after some time you will not disappear you will always be that vast mirror you're free at that point what will happen then for the rest of your life viand says he no more than how no more how body lives or dies how body lives or goes let Karma floated down its task is done and then he says go thou from place to place and you know you help people you help them to bring them out of Maya's veale and things like that vianda says that's the life of a Jan MTA in light and while living even to a slightest extent if you can step back and see so the answer to your question is who is it that if I am the vast mirror of Consciousness who is it this VI who's undergoing past Karma and all of that it is that same vast miror of Consciousness in one little reflection there you have to notice that you are the support of this VI character not only that you are the reality the vi character is an appearance a reflection a dream you are not affected by you the real you is not at all affected by the ups and downs of VI's life and you are non-dual that VI also is nothing apart from you it's an appearance if it was real then it would be a real problem it's not a it's not real it's an appearance so therefore not a real problem from the that ultimate perspective yeah sounds subtle and difficult to explain in so many words but when you just see it as a simple Insight everything else becomes everything falls in place actually one we'll take one more question and and uh Mia later hi my name here so the spirit of like an example I was recently in and people are taking water from the ganga and taking and so it got me thinking about a question just like when someone gives that to somebody they say okay this is a part of the ganga yes but you know they don't necessarily say this is the ganga itself right because when you remove it you know it might have different elements of it and you know it might be it has parts of it but it's not the ganga itself so this goes to my question what is the argument against the fact that we might have parts of God elements of mhm but we are not God himself yeah or even to take it a little bit further in uh Christianity they say oh man was God made man in the image of himself in the image of himself but so we might have elements sure but we are not God himself right so uh just wondering what the AR right so in Vidant so the question from was that um just as a bottle of Ganga water which you saw in V Varanasi people were taking water from the ganga and giving it to people as ganga water it's ganga water but it's not the whole of the ganga it's a part of the ganga now in the same way we might have a Divine element in ourselves and most religions would say that um but that doesn't mean you're literally God and there's nothing but God all right now these are different schools in vanta what you are suggesting are two different schools of vanta one is called vishad vishad means qualified monism so this whole universe is one Divinity but that doesn't mean that there are not parts so just as in this body there are Parts their hands and feet and the head and they're all different from each other and they're really different from each other but there's an organic Unity which is the body so we have a part whole relationship so why can't we be parts of God and not all of God the answer to this question from adic perspective is that um God doesn't have Parts pure being or pure Consciousness is indivisible that's an and there's a lot of argumentation for that why it has to be indivisible it doesn't have components then how do you handle this tremendous diversity well appearance reality and appearance it's like saying um I know that there's a mirror behind me the the little reflection in the mirror say a little person walking there in the mirror says I know there's a mirror behind me but that doesn't mean that I'm not here I am here and I'm a part of the mirror is that really true does a mirror have a little person as its parts and little cars and little dogs and cats little uh buildings and no no no the mirror has only glass no parts it's just one unlimited glass if it wear Parts it would be limited because the hand is limited by the other hand the hands are limited by the foot in the sense that the hands are not the feet the feet are not the hands they're different from each other but in the glass in the mirror the man and the dog and the sky and the Earth all of them are basically one mirror fundamentally in appearance they are different so while maintaining the undivided and um undivided nature of the Ultimate Reality it still allows for free play in samsar the reflection model you see what is reflected is not a part of the mirror um the lake doesn't have trees and birds and clouds as parts of itself what does the lake have water just water what does Consciousness have just Consciousness just pure being it appears in that way that's atic perspective um one can even see right now when I'm thinking of things in mind people and places there there aren't people and places in the mind they're just thoughts in the mind there's just mind go further back in Consciousness there's just Consciousness um so that's one the second one you said man in the image of God that's another school of vant would correspond to that not only we are not parts of God we are not even parts we are not all of God we are not Parts there's no all and part relationship we are different from God but created in the Divine image that's called dualistic vant there's a whole school of vant D vant I was reading a book on dualistic vant where the scholar says he gives a chapter on non-dualism and then says enough of this unnatural this weird philosophy of all being one Consciousness now come to the clear light of dualistic vant there is a world there is a God and we are there see what could be simpler uh yeah so these are different philosophies we are taking one standpoint very sharply all right we have to bring a end to this thank you so much take [Music] care

Channel: Vedanta Society of New York

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Keywords: vedantany, vedanta society of new york, sarvapriyananda, swami sarvapriyananda, sarvapriyananda lectures, swami vivekananda, vivekananda, vivekananda teachings, vedanta ny, vedanta, vedanta lectures, belur math, jnana yoga, hinduism, spirituality, enlightenment, higher consciousness, meditation, mindfulness, realization, consciousness, moksha, nirvana

Id: _DMJBsOnK44

Length: 84min 4sec (5044 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 04 2024