February 9th, 2020 II Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda
February 9th,2020 II Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda
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Sri
Ramakrishna
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Oh Misato Mossad gamma yah Thomas oh ma Joe dear gamma yah great your mom written gamma ha boom cha Mon dish Shante Shante boom leaders from the unreal to the real leaders from darkness unto light leaders from death to immortality Oh peace peace peace good morning everybody and it's good to be back although temporarily and it's also very auspicious day because it's the birthday of Swami at Bhutan and he was one of the sixteen direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna who they became monks and they were the founders of our order so
I mean vacant and there was the leader but there are 15 other young men one of them was not an actually young one of them was older than Sri Ramakrishna himself swami Advaita and at Bhutan energy was the first among all of them to come to Sri Ramakrishna actually more or less he was also unique in the sense that he was practically illiterate and somebody called him the miracle of Sri Ramakrishna that this person illiterate and he remained illiterate and yet he became an enlightened persona brahmana Johnny a wonderful teacher so today what I thought I'd do is a session of asking Swami those of you you know that we have these occasionally there are questions which come from the live audience here and questions collected from people sending in emails from across the world
I know a lot of questions have accumulated unfortunately for various reasons, we have not been able to do these sessions for quite a while only a few of them could be sorted out and collected and arranged thanks to the efforts of our team here so some of those questions will be read out and put to me
I enjoy these sessions of so you see it gives me an opportunity to think about the same teachings from different angles there's a saying that in teaching you learn twice which I find to be really true it's really useful for my own personal spiritual practice and a good part of teaching a solid part of teaching is responding to questions queries in the ancient texts, you will find there's something called like a Q&A going on a question and answer they there was a person defending a particular position in Sanskrit called the Sidhant in the position defender and there was there were a variety of other opponents which were called Porou habesha that mean the opposing point of view and they would come from different angles somebody from the school of Sankhya somebody from the school of
jnana or the yoga school or me Monza or various kinds of Buddhist schools and attack your position and then you would have to respond to those questions they're wonderful very deep very subtle discussions the advantage was what good does it do you to engage in these dialectics spiritually what good does it do you the advantage is this our own understanding of our own position becomes deeper
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Sri
Ramakrishna
so you suppose you are driving in a wooden post into the ground the way you do it is you push it into the ground
but you move it around and pull it out, again and again, push it in and again pull it out and again push it in each time you pull it out and push it back into the ground it goes in deeper and more firm so this process of uprooting certain examining our own belief systems our own thinking rationally critically it's a very good exercise really so that's what we do here but the way we will proceed is Diane will put a question we'll start off to break the ice people's often shy about asking questions
so we'll take a question from the internet audience when you think about your own questions raise your hand I'll call you up here and you come and tell us your name and ask your question Dan yes Swamiji we're starting out actually with three questions on your favorite subject consciousness the first one is Sara suave s
I understand from your lectures that we are not the body or the mind we are the unchanging self then to whom does enlightenment happen certainly, it is not the body or the self then is this Mukti only a mind game then Olivia V intellectually
I can understand that all is
Brahman and that I am Brahman but if this was
so I am then responsible for all my experiences there is so much pain hatred and injustice in the world
I cannot think how I have been able to cause this to even enter into my consciousness moreover if I have caused this then shouldn't I be responsible for all this misery at least at some level
so I am then responsible for all my experiences there is so much pain hatred and injustice in the world
I cannot think how I have been able to cause this to even enter into my consciousness moreover if I have caused this then shouldn't I be responsible for all this misery at least at some level
I know you will say that at the transactional level of the consciousness we have to deal with karma whose Karma collective karma
this seems like a cop-out because we all have to live at the
transactional level of consciousness for a greater part of our time here please help me to understand this and the third question is from Martin mahant ash
I have heard many times that Brahman God Atman the self ultimate reality is new guna which means it has no characteristics like happy sad envy no gunas sattva rajas tamas but yet Brahman is blissful which means extremely happy is that not a contradiction okay these are various questions about some central teachings of Advaita Vedanta coming from different points of view but is exactly what
I was talking about and one thing to keep in mind is that often the question that is being asked could be very beneficial not only to the person who's asking but to those who are listening to it might just be our question so it's good to listen to the question and the discussions which follow instead of being all waiting for my turn I'll ask my question so the first question is about you know
I like that part when he says that is enlightenment than just a mind game it's just a mind game if
I am Brahman then who has some the sovereign who gets enlightenment if I'm not the body and mind the body cannot get enlightened or you know to become free become an
enlightened being and Brahman does not need enlightenment the
absolute reality is beyond samsara anyway so who gets enlightened
so there's a standard question when you probe into Advaita Vedanta at one point this question will come to all of us wait a minute if I am one with God if
I am pure being awareness and bliss then who is in samsara and who gets enlightenment who is listening to it on to who needs all of this the short answer is you who me I'm God do you know that your God if you know that your God you would have no problem
at all the question of enlightenment and you know of spiritual practice and overcoming suffering and getting enlightened the whole question becomes moot if you know that you are already beyond suffering why would you even bother he said but that's you are avoiding the question if you are clearly saying that I am Brahman
I am one with God so how can I need enlightenment the thing is we have to see you from what perspective we are asking the question right now when we ask the question we have to be honest but
I am asking the question as this body-mind complex yes
I hear that there is something called Brahman, I hear that I am the absolute I'm one with
God I hear that I may even understand some of that but honestly, what I feel about myself my identity and more importantly how I behave in the world and react to things in the world is as a body-mind complex as this person as long as
I think this I need spirituality I am in samsara I need spiritual knowledge
I need a spiritual practice and me need enlightenment you see still have not answered the question then exactly who is it who is in samsara who has the problems and we're seeking a solution is it Brahman is it the body is it
the mind the Jeeva the sentient being which we are is a peculiar creature it is the absolute it is Brahman you are that an absolute reality and yet right now Vedanta will say under the influence of ignorance under the influence of Maya we feel and think and act as if we were not we feel and think and act
as if we were this body and mind this is called the Jeeva sentient being the sentient being is none other than Brahman you are one with God and yet you think you are not is it just a mind the game then Vedanta says when you get enlightenment you get
what you already had to prop the see properly what if what we always had we get that and what do you remove
when you get rid of samsara all the problems of samsara you get rid of what was never there never eat that's generally what was never there at all,, to begin with, is removed what you always had to begin with you get that now that sounds like classic con game so is it just a mind game
now look at the presupposition beneath that question underneath that question just a mind game you know what lies behind this kind of language is that I think this is real this physical world of people and buildings and this body and matter this is real compared to this
transactional level of consciousness for a greater part of our time here please help me to understand this and the third question is from Martin mahant ash
I have heard many times that Brahman God Atman the self ultimate reality is new guna which means it has no characteristics like happy sad envy no gunas sattva rajas tamas but yet Brahman is blissful which means extremely happy is that not a contradiction okay these are various questions about some central teachings of Advaita Vedanta coming from different points of view but is exactly what
I was talking about and one thing to keep in mind is that often the question that is being asked could be very beneficial not only to the person who's asking but to those who are listening to it might just be our question so it's good to listen to the question and the discussions which follow instead of being all waiting for my turn I'll ask my question so the first question is about you know
I like that part when he says that is enlightenment than just a mind game it's just a mind game if
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Sri
Ramakrishna
so there's a standard question when you probe into Advaita Vedanta at one point this question will come to all of us wait a minute if I am one with God if
I am pure being awareness and bliss then who is in samsara and who gets enlightenment who is listening to it on to who needs all of this the short answer is you who me I'm God do you know that your God if you know that your God you would have no problem
at all the question of enlightenment and you know of spiritual practice and overcoming suffering and getting enlightened the whole question becomes moot if you know that you are already beyond suffering why would you even bother he said but that's you are avoiding the question if you are clearly saying that I am Brahman
I am one with God so how can I need enlightenment the thing is we have to see you from what perspective we are asking the question right now when we ask the question we have to be honest but
I am asking the question as this body-mind complex yes
I hear that there is something called Brahman, I hear that I am the absolute I'm one with
God I hear that I may even understand some of that but honestly, what I feel about myself my identity and more importantly how I behave in the world and react to things in the world is as a body-mind complex as this person as long as
I think this I need spirituality I am in samsara I need spiritual knowledge
I need a spiritual practice and me need enlightenment you see still have not answered the question then exactly who is it who is in samsara who has the problems and we're seeking a solution is it Brahman is it the body is it
the mind the Jeeva the sentient being which we are is a peculiar creature it is the absolute it is Brahman you are that an absolute reality and yet right now Vedanta will say under the influence of ignorance under the influence of Maya we feel and think and act as if we were not we feel and think and act
as if we were this body and mind this is called the Jeeva sentient being the sentient being is none other than Brahman you are one with God and yet you think you are not is it just a mind the game then Vedanta says when you get enlightenment you get
what you already had to prop the see properly what if what we always had we get that and what do you remove
when you get rid of samsara all the problems of samsara you get rid of what was never there never eat that's generally what was never there at all,, to begin with, is removed what you always had to begin with you get that now that sounds like classic con game so is it just a mind game
now look at the presupposition beneath that question underneath that question just a mind game you know what lies behind this kind of language is that I think this is real this physical world of people and buildings and this body and matter this is real compared to this
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Sri
Ramakrishna
I know there is a
mind that mind is somewhat less real and this God Brahman Atman
whatever you are talking about is very theoretical it's not at all
reals very thin just the other way around Brahman is the reality and
body-mind the entire world is an appearance of
that Brahman don't underestimate the mind just a mind game as if mine gave me nothing all of our samsara is the mind proof when you fall asleep what samsara
what do you see of this world nothing what do you know about yourself nothing what about all the big problems of this world nothing recently I was
I did have a Divinity School and outside the class, we had a discussion just sort of ongoing discussion with some of the grad students and one of the students were saying that you know
the Advaita point of view that ultimately we are all one divine the reality that we are all going to become enlightened that that was the question
that Brahman don't underestimate the mind just a mind game as if mine gave me nothing all of our samsara is the mind proof when you fall asleep what samsara
what do you see of this world nothing what do you know about yourself nothing what about all the big problems of this world nothing recently I was
I did have a Divinity School and outside the class, we had a discussion just sort of ongoing discussion with some of the grad students and one of the students were saying that you know
the Advaita point of view that ultimately we are all one divine the reality that we are all going to become enlightened that that was the question
does everybody B's is
everybody enlightened saved at the end or not because there's this the doctrine that only some are selected to be enlightened one of the
students were from a Calvinist background and were saying that there is
this those were going to be saved it's already decided and there are
those
who are not going to be saved whereas incomes something like Vedanta which says that ultimately everybody is going to be enlightened because you are brahman already what can stop you so the question was you know what student asked me a brilliant young man
he asked me you know still, it feels wrong to think that Hitler and Mother Teresa will end up at the same place when you put it that way it seems so unjust and I said to him all right Hitler and Mother Teresa, they end up at the same place every day it's just a matter of a
fact, not a question of belief just a matter of fact what do you mean when Hitler is in deep sleep and mother Teresa is in deep sleep is Hitler Hitler or Mother Teresa mother
Teresa nothing and that happens
every night when you go to sleep all your individual personality is
wiped out with the best of people and the worst of people it
disappears into down a black hole of nothingness do we become nothing
then no because of
that that mask that we put on the personality which is good and evil that is still a mask it's not the real you therein in fact, lies the possibility of
salvation and saving this think about it when they were 5 years old or 2 years old was Mother Teresa mother Teresa was Hitler Hitler no so is evil nothing is good nothing of course not there is a there's a greater significance to it that's where karma comes in and yes the evil person
who has put on that mask of evil has to pay for all of that there is a karmic consequence and the person who's good also get
the reward and spiritual life you cannot become spiritual straight from evil to saintliness from through good alone but spirituality is beyond both good and evil but that does not mean from the spiritual perspective or an
Advaitic perspective evil and good are the same they are not evil is evil it has to be overcome and transformed into the good it's only after you are moral and ethical then you can think of being saintly our Swami often says when a young man comes to become a monk he says that they are often told be a gentleman first then you can think about becoming a monk what does that mean it transform the inner nature and that's part of becoming spiritual
who are not going to be saved whereas incomes something like Vedanta which says that ultimately everybody is going to be enlightened because you are brahman already what can stop you so the question was you know what student asked me a brilliant young man
he asked me you know still, it feels wrong to think that Hitler and Mother Teresa will end up at the same place when you put it that way it seems so unjust and I said to him all right Hitler and Mother Teresa, they end up at the same place every day it's just a matter of a
fact, not a question of belief just a matter of fact what do you mean when Hitler is in deep sleep and mother Teresa is in deep sleep is Hitler Hitler or Mother Teresa mother
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Sri
Ramakrishna
that that mask that we put on the personality which is good and evil that is still a mask it's not the real you therein in fact, lies the possibility of
salvation and saving this think about it when they were 5 years old or 2 years old was Mother Teresa mother Teresa was Hitler Hitler no so is evil nothing is good nothing of course not there is a there's a greater significance to it that's where karma comes in and yes the evil person
who has put on that mask of evil has to pay for all of that there is a karmic consequence and the person who's good also get
the reward and spiritual life you cannot become spiritual straight from evil to saintliness from through good alone but spirituality is beyond both good and evil but that does not mean from the spiritual perspective or an
Advaitic perspective evil and good are the same they are not evil is evil it has to be overcome and transformed into the good it's only after you are moral and ethical then you can think of being saintly our Swami often says when a young man comes to become a monk he says that they are often told be a gentleman first then you can think about becoming a monk what does that mean it transform the inner nature and that's part of becoming spiritual
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