February 9th, 2020 II Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda
February 9th, 2020 II Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda
Sri
Ramakrishna
So
Advaita does not say evil and good are equal or they are they don't
exist or we should not be concerned with that, not at all we should
be deeply concerned with overcoming evil and transforming it into
good and encouraging the good but Advaita does say that there is an
ultimate reality which is both which is beyond both good and evil and
that's our real nature and that's always our real nature physical
world the subtle world and then the spiritual world they are not
three different things there are deeper and deeper realities of the
same reality better and deeper understanding of the same reality what
we understand as this physical world and we take this to be the
reality and the mind to be something not as realize this table is
really real it's really real and the mind is it's real but in some
sort of
vague
sort of way and God Atman consciousness that's mostly Theory Advaita
says it's just the opposite follow this Swami Vivekananda says there
is a matter of perspective at one perspective it is all matter and
the scientist will come in and say that's what I'm telling you all
along but then when you look deeper it's all mind and you look
further and deeper it's the Atman or just pure consciousness how does
that work give it a try I'll just tell you something just see if it
works here is
this
physical world people you're sitting and obviously the chair feels
pretty solid and the ground under your feet feels pretty solid and
you feel that you have a physical body here in this physical world
around us seems so real and if you we're at this moment to suddenly
sit up in your bed and think oh
I
dozed up I forgot to go to the Vedanta Society was dreaming
I
was in the Vedanta Society actually I was napping and on my bed or my
couch then when you back upon what you had just seen all those people
and the Hall in the pyramid the building and your own body and the
floor you felt which felt so solid underneath you all that was part
of your dream which means it is all mind whatever we dream about even
if we dream about a physically real thing or a person out there when
we wake up you realize oh it was all in my mind which means all those
things you dreamt about which seemed solid and real and separate from
you they all they're nothing other than figments of your imagination
your dream is we are you together with me that it's possible such a
thing such a scenario is possible okay at this point you will say yes
Swami
I
understand in a dream but this is real this I'm awake here even here
if you consider your ex your experiences your experience of what you
see and hear and smell and taste and touch which feels real it's all
mediated through our senses and our mind what do I mean by that is
when you're looking at me looking at this orange person standing in
front of you it's basically light reflected from these clothes and my the body which goes into your eyes this clot is not going into us god
forbid you'd have to call 9-1-1
Sri
Ramakrishna
if
you the world does not enter our senses our eyes, for example, are
designed to take in only one and only one thing light so reflected
light comes into our eyes into the lenses and then the image is
formed and install most instantaneously it's not even light anymore
thing think now the entire world of things has been reduced to light
first, step one second step within a fraction of a second it's no
longer flight it's tiny bursts of electricity in our neurons being
transmitted very fast she's an expert here sir to our brain centers
already no people no animals no sky earth building nothing just burst
of electricity in our brain and this is absolutely standard
neuroscience nobody says that the world has entered your brain of
course not
now
at one point and we don't know how at one point those little bursts
of electricity are suddenly converted into an extraordinary
representation of the world what we call our mind we see people and
the sky and flowers we feel and not only to seeing hearing sounds and
feeling cold or warm all of that is now reconstructed at that level
we have already gone beyond the physical body the brain
we
have gone into something which we just called a mind which means
whatever we are experiencing here right now is at that level we are
not nobody here is directly experiencing a world out there it's all
through the eyes and the nervous system and the brain the skin and
the nervous system and the brain and the nose and the tongue and
the
year's nervous system brain from there one step forward or deeper
into what we call the mind
what
you experience is only your mind true or not it's actually
self-evident what scientists will say and many philosophers will say
yes that's true Swami but what
but
it's still an accurate representation of an existing world outside
every word of that is open to doubt now why do you think
what
you are seeing is an accurate representation of the world outside
well one group of thinkers evolutionary you know Darwinists will say
that if human beings are animals we are basically sophisticated
animals
Sri
Ramakrishna
not
accurately represent their environment outside they wouldn't be able
to survive so this is a dogma of our time so the last 150 years since
Darwin
I
don't know how far Darwin would agree with this but we have taken it
further, so neo Darwinists will say that because our body is a design
for survival and the body and a brain which does not represent it its
environment accurately
will
not survive in that environment if you can't see the tiger
hunting
you and then you're going to be eaten up so you your jeans will not
be transmitted further and so so that kind of behavior will be
eliminated so your nervous system must be representing the world
accurately outside now there's not a challenge there is
I
forget there are some important there researchers in neuroscience who
are saying not at all if your nervous system actually accurately
reported what's going on in the world you'd be paralyzed into
inactivity it's such a vast amount torrent of information pouring in
your nervous system in order to survive the body
has
to collate filter out information and present some actionable points
you're like the executive sitting in there and your secretary filters
out almost entirely of the world and just give you a few things to
do so what is being nice it's very interesting one professor was
giving a talk and he said that imagine your computer when you are
doing Whitaker we were working on the computer on your screen
you
see all those icons is a word and there is Firefox and things like
that and you click on this and you are that an accurate representation
of what's going on in the machine absolutely not it's almost nothing
to do with the zeros and ones of machine language and which has
almost nothing to do very little to do with the little flashes of
electricity going on in those gates you know on and off states
actually what is happening in the machine is very different from what
you see on the screen and
if
you had shown what's happening in the Machine and asked to deal with
that you couldn't get any work done on a computer so the whole thing
is systematized and bought to you there are as little representations
little icons which are pictures and easy to handle for you and then
Sri
Ramakrishna
you
get your work done our nervous system according to the latest
thinking functions in exactly the same way it has what you see has
nothing to do with the world outside very little to do with the world
outside but it's a good handy way of dealing with the world it's a good representation for the consciousness to interact with this world
whatever is there out so anyway that's the physicalist approach
physicalist materialist reductionist approaches at that point now
that
I
am taking only one thing out of the whole picture that we are not
experiencing the world as it is we are experiencing our own minds now
where are we thought we were in a physical world now we think we
begin to understand
we
inhabit a world of the mind of representation what's out there we
don't know Kant would approve Immanuel Kant who who who thoroughly
approves it we are just seeing a structure put up by our own minds we
are the second level now the
the physical world we have abandoned it now we
move to the level of mind one more step which modern science
psychology philosophy does not understand so far
Advaita
Vedanta will tell you this so you are experiencing your own mind its
thoughts feelings perceptions everything in your mind only all of it
is lit up by awareness if it were not later by awareness none of it
would be experienceable
I
cannot spend time to explain this much further I just leave it at
that we have been discussing this on and off a lot of times
consciousness lights up the whole thing not only that Vedanta says
consciousness gives existence to all these things which you are in
there in your mind because without consciousness they would just be
not experienceable and not even existing it's like for example pain
or excitement if you are aware of the pain you can claim honestly
I
am in pain can you think of this statement I am in great pain but of
course I don't feel it you are laughing because it's a ridiculous
statement pain is something which is when it is there it must be
experienceable if it is experienceable it is there but the two go
together experience ability and existence of pain if you remove one
there's no pain
but
I'm experiencing a lot of pain that's ridiculous or there is a lot of
pain but I'm not experiencing any of it that's a ridiculous notice
for pain existence and awareness go together but right away that is a
good example Advaita Vedanta is saying it's exactly the same for
everything in your mind their existence and awareness goes together and
that existence and awareness is lent by you the consciousness the
background consciousness and therefore whatever you're experiencing
while
expressive we are experiencing a physical world out there you are
experiencing nothing but consciousness you yourself in the guise of
so many names and forms that are the entire teaching of Advaita
that's better here so it's not a mere mind game if it was a mind game
then all of samsara is a mind game and enlightenment is a mind but
not mere under any circumstance that's most important that's central
to our human experiences let me tell you a little story Swami server
guitar and the G was the head of the
Vedanta
Society of Boston in Massachusetts many years ago some of you may
have seen him he was a disciple of swami Ockendon on one of the
direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna so this is a story we saw him
only a few times when he visited India towards the end of his life
the story which in which
he narrates how he got he was initiated or not initiated by Swami a bandana initiation means getting a mantra so swamis are begotten and at that time he was a Brahmacari he was a novice not yet a Swami and he had gone to
he narrates how he got he was initiated or not initiated by Swami a bandana initiation means getting a mantra so swamis are begotten and at that time he was a Brahmacari he was a novice not yet a Swami and he had gone to
Swami
Yogananda in Sargon Ostrom in Murshidabad in Bengal the Swami
Yogananda was there a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and this young man
he went as a novice to become a monk he was under training somebody
told him have you taken mantra Diksha initiation he said oh
I
did I haven't go and ask Swami Ockendon in the for mantra Diksha
initiation so all this is what he told us I mean this is from I mean
at the end of his life,
he went and asked anaconda and she said what
do you want many funny things he told this Swami Vivekananda because
see for example that was an orphanage started by Swami Yogananda four
little boys with no mother and father the boys were mischievous and
this young man he was from the south of India from Karnataka
I
think and he had gone to this was Bengal he had gone to Bengal and
his boys were teaching him Bengali and they're mischievous of course
they are teaching him wrong things teaching him so Mirage is repeated
after the meal, they'll tell the Bengali word for the year and say
here ear he knows in Bengali we would say Mirage con the NARC anyway
so one day he went to Swami ik undone and then asked for the mantra
what do you want I want
I
heard that you give the mantra initiation I would like to be
initiated by you and Swami I couldn't just sit sit sit and just sit
and meditate so I mean so forgot and he said I didn't know how to
meditate but anyway the Swami's telling me
so
I just sat quietly with my eyes closed and the mind became calm and
inward you know and after some time so Omnia Kundan and I said what
are you seeing what do you experience and Swami serve a guitar and
who was a Brahmacari at that time he said
I
see that everything is minded it's all ideas it's mind meditate more
said quietly for some time after some time so a mere condemned asked
what do you see now I see that it is all consciousness said well you
can go no he got up and went he was in a stunning mood you know and
even when he was telling this the brahmacaris who were there in
balloon mutt sixty years after the event they told me
Sri
Ramakrishna
I
heard it secondhand they told me that the whole room became such
charged with the emotion you know when
he
narrated something that would happen 60 years ago and everybody was
quiet for a long time than a few days later he suddenly thought
but I didn't get the mantra so he went back to Swami Ockendon and said Swami what is it now you didn't give me the mantra Swami
but I didn't get the mantra so he went back to Swami Ockendon and said Swami what is it now you didn't give me the mantra Swami
I
contend they said or whatever had to be done has been done it's done
for you go now this Swami who came many years later to the United
States and was the head of the center and gave the mantra to
so many people never ever received the mantra in his whole life many people don't know that he was not initiated instead of the mantra he just got enlightenment directly so this is an interesting thing physical the world the three steps you see the physical world
so many people never ever received the mantra in his whole life many people don't know that he was not initiated instead of the mantra he just got enlightenment directly so this is an interesting thing physical the world the three steps you see the physical world
we
think this real reduces it to mind and see just spend some time there
and
see how actually we experience nothing but mind and mind to consciousness notice all thoughts feelings good bad all the things that we experience including the so-called nothingness of deep sleep are all appearances and disappearances - awareness which must be our a real identity that thou art alright there's a variation of this Olivia she asks that
so the ultimate reality is beyond any characteristics and yet we read that it is blissful so what ultimate reality is Brahman must
see how actually we experience nothing but mind and mind to consciousness notice all thoughts feelings good bad all the things that we experience including the so-called nothingness of deep sleep are all appearances and disappearances - awareness which must be our a real identity that thou art alright there's a variation of this Olivia she asks that
so the ultimate reality is beyond any characteristics and yet we read that it is blissful so what ultimate reality is Brahman must
be
must not be happy sad or anything like that and yet you see and
blissful so Brahman is very happy no happy-sad remembering forgetting
desiring hating these are all at the level of the mind and they're
all illumined and lit
up and experienced because of awareness of consciousness this distinction between consciousness and mind must be made in them in the mind itself in your intellect the difference between awareness and what awareness experiences this distinction is crucial for understanding Vedanta
up and experienced because of awareness of consciousness this distinction between consciousness and mind must be made in them in the mind itself in your intellect the difference between awareness and what awareness experiences this distinction is crucial for understanding Vedanta
why
we learned it is crucial for understanding Sankhya so happiness is in
the mind then why is Brahman called Anand bliss not blissful and the
bliss itself it's like this so I mean Vivekananda said not that it
exists it means with the capital
I it that ultimate reality not that it exists it is existence itself it's more than nothing which exists not that it knows it is knowledge itself which means it's consciousness and not that it is happy it is happiness itself that's one way of putting it another way of putting it is one teacher said this
I it that ultimate reality not that it exists it is existence itself it's more than nothing which exists not that it knows it is knowledge itself which means it's consciousness and not that it is happy it is happiness itself that's one way of putting it another way of putting it is one teacher said this
confusion
can be prevented if you translate anandam bliss, not as bliss or
happiness but as poor not to am completeness infinitude limitlessness
that limitlessness has to be happy when you experience that
limitlessness when it is experienced in my mind the reaction will be
fulfillment joy peace again kind of unshakable and very pure and
elevated happiness but that happiness is also in the mind it's not
Brahman itself is is limitlessness
I
have given a talk about this is discussed in the opening shots in a section called Ananda my mom's anti-d reopen Isha in the second
chapter
I
think the 8th section of the second chapter is called Ananda my moms
are the calculus of happiness very interesting section does brahman
exist one answer is yes but a deeper answer is
no
it is existence itself it more than exists it's not a thing which
exists it is the very existence of things so let's just play on words
but it's not difficult to understand the example which I gave about
ornaments and gold
so
you have got a necklace and a bracelet and a ring they are all made
of gold and if you ask is gold a type of ornament then you have to
say none to know gold is not a kind of ornament it's not a fourth
kind of ornament and so then gold doesn't exist because only
ornaments exist no gold exists in a deeper sense than ornaments exist
because the very existence of these jewels these ornaments it depends
on gold is
the
existence of these two exactly like that Brahman is the existence of
this universes universe has a lower category of existence than
Brahman so anyway similarly so brahman is existence itself it's not a the
the thing which exists similarly Brahman is bliss itself it's not the feeling of happiness the last
the thing which exists similarly Brahman is bliss itself it's not the feeling of happiness the last
the question was could you repeat the last question my intention the third one I have heard many times that Brahman God Atman the self
ultimate reality is Nagina which means it has no characteristics
I
think answered that all right so the awareness itself for Brahman
itself has no characteristic of its own but we did put some names and
forms it takes on characteristics and it becomes Hitler or mother
Teresa so ami Vivek Kundan he says that existence is prior to
everything else then we color it with good and bad and
we
say good or sinful and bad but it's that existence first and then it
then we talk about good and bad I hope this has given you enough food
for thought do you have questions can you raise your hand this young
man there come here tell us your name and ask the question I'm asking
Swamiji my name is Samira one of the biggest challenge
I the face on seeking enlightenment is family and friends when we consider
everything as one the concept of family or friends seem
discriminatory by itself and with limited identity is there a middle
ground or right balance still maintain the relationship and be
enlightened yes it's a good question by the way this question is
fixed the reason is I met him this morning while walking in the park
Central Park, he was walking there and he says
I'm
going to ask a question I said all right you guys raise your hand
I'll good I'll call on you so it was fixed yes again from the perspective of Brahman or Atman it is all one who is your friend or
enemy, when it's all one whom to hate whom,
will you condemn when it is it's all but one similarly for family and not family this is mine and this is not mine these are mine and these are not mine so this is definitely, it comes from a perspective of ignorance but after enlightenment
when you realize it is all one reality after that you're still back in this identity this Samiran identity and from that perspective, there'll be somebody
will you condemn when it is it's all but one similarly for family and not family this is mine and this is not mine these are mine and these are not mine so this is definitely, it comes from a perspective of ignorance but after enlightenment
when you realize it is all one reality after that you're still back in this identity this Samiran identity and from that perspective, there'll be somebody
whom
you call dad and mom somebody you call a friend somebody you call the
professor or colleague and you can still play that role but now you
are aware of a much deeper level of Chosun you know at that deeper
level of truth these differences disappear and you are one
so from that perspective you act in the world what will happen then these deep likes and dislikes will disappear you have a deep sense of identity with every but it's a wonderful way of living actually you still,
fulfill your role you still do whatever has to be done you go to work and you learn and you study and you take care of people you have to take care of but deep inside there is this feeling of oneness with everybody
so from that perspective you act in the world what will happen then these deep likes and dislikes will disappear you have a deep sense of identity with every but it's a wonderful way of living actually you still,
fulfill your role you still do whatever has to be done you go to work and you learn and you study and you take care of people you have to take care of but deep inside there is this feeling of oneness with everybody
so
I'm Eva Condor said what will happen when you realize this know like
vividly when you feel this he said this world itself it is only if
only a fraction of the population of this world we're to realize this
truth society would be transformed into heaven on earth itself than
gods would work with gods would play with gods would be loving gods that is the language he puts it in so yes even if
gods would work with gods would play with gods would be loving gods that is the language he puts it in so yes even if
I
am NOT THERE I can simulate that perspective and try to live
accordingly,
when you try to live accordingly you'll notice something all ethics love unselfishness they flow from that perspective it's yes you had a question I will take one more question in the gentleman there I'll come to you later my name is Girish
when you try to live accordingly you'll notice something all ethics love unselfishness they flow from that perspective it's yes you had a question I will take one more question in the gentleman there I'll come to you later my name is Girish
I
had a question about Maya I hope you don't say to ask another
question but Maya's defined both as unreal as well as not unreal
which would appear to violate the law of the excluded middle Astoria
middle but am I
falling it so it would mean that Maya is illogical but am
I falling into the fallacy of the excluded middle which means that not unreal is not the opposite of unreal are there other alternatives all right it's a much more difficult question
falling it so it would mean that Maya is illogical but am
I falling into the fallacy of the excluded middle which means that not unreal is not the opposite of unreal are there other alternatives all right it's a much more difficult question
you
ask what is Brahman easy what does it say easy-peasy but if you ask
Maya, it's really a difficult question and you see one of the first
difficulties are this but this exact Sanskrit freezing is such a--such
become a near Virginia it is not unreal and it is not real but
actually,
an accurate translation would be you cannot express it as being real you cannot express it as being unreal a near Virginia means cannot be put into an expression cannot be linguistically expressed as it cannot
an accurate translation would be you cannot express it as being real you cannot express it as being unreal a near Virginia means cannot be put into an expression cannot be linguistically expressed as it cannot
be
written mind as real cannot be determined as unreal or in simple the
the language you cannot say that Maya exists seeing that only Brahman exists from an advantage perspective you cannot say that Maya does not exist seeing that it makes all this difference so from a very the strict philosophical point of view Maya is not a second reality apart from Brahman from a practical point of view,
you have to admit the efficacy of my everything here we see is in the realm of a mile all that exists here is the wood because
the language you cannot say that Maya exists seeing that only Brahman exists from an advantage perspective you cannot say that Maya does not exist seeing that it makes all this difference so from a very the strict philosophical point of view Maya is not a second reality apart from Brahman from a practical point of view,
you have to admit the efficacy of my everything here we see is in the realm of a mile all that exists here is the wood because
what
I'm touching is worth what you weigh is wood but can you see that the
table the lectern does not exist the podium does not exist if I say
apart from the wood it does not exist and say yes but there is a
shape to the podium there is a function you are able to put your
hands-on
it and you know you can use it there is a name podium which is different from the name wood so you have a different label a different form and different function all of this nama Rupa Viva Hara in Sanskrit this is these are the constituents of Maya now does it violate the rule of the excluded middle rule of excluded middle is one of the fundamental rules of
it and you know you can use it there is a name podium which is different from the name wood so you have a different label a different form and different function all of this nama Rupa Viva Hara in Sanskrit this is these are the constituents of Maya now does it violate the rule of the excluded middle rule of excluded middle is one of the fundamental rules of
I
would say Aristotle in logic where it says a thing has to be either a
or not a there can't be any other third middle possibility notice
that the way it is phrased it's not saying that it's not
Sri
Sarada Devi
more
asking for another possibility it's just saying that it cannot be
expressed as not a that's a weaker way of saying it it's not actually
directly violating if it said that it is both a and not a that is
contradictory but it's not saying that it both exists and does not
exist this doesn't say that it just says it cannot be expressed as
existence it cannot be expressed as non-existence and that's where
you leave it they actually say in Uttarakhand in the Himalayas
I
will say Swami has been some Oh monk don't try to establish Maya - I
try to come out from cut it mark cut it or come out of Maya
establishing Maya Maya is putting it on firm foundations then you are
trapped if you can really establish there is something called Maya
then you're trapped in it because it's real in Hindi they say it
questions the Mata ki GA is car ta don't try to establish and how do
you cut it when
you investigate it it disappears when you investigate it seems to be that there yes there is the word and there is a podium but when you investigate it logically when you say is what does it mean
you investigate it it disappears when you investigate it seems to be that there yes there is the word and there is a podium but when you investigate it logically when you say is what does it mean
what
I touch what I weigh what we see but what I'm saying you know what
I'm hitting here it's all its wood only the whole thing is wood and
what you call name and farm and function is attributed to it is
imputed imputation is another good word and that is Maya okay it's a
technical question but seeing none of the
ladies are asking but anyway you can come then we'll take a question from the internet audience Namaskar M Swamiji
ladies are asking but anyway you can come then we'll take a question from the internet audience Namaskar M Swamiji
I'm
trying to write tell us your name my name is Praveen thank you for
all the education so far
I'm
trying to reconcile some of the concepts you know you talk about
Ambrym a Smith at Massey with some of the other things that we see
for example Kundalini Shakthi or some of the cities even Shankar
Acharya went through
Pyar Kiya privations I left his body got into something else third thing is there is also a concept that says you have to be different from the one in order to experience for example examples corridor only if you are different from sugar you can taste the sweetness of sugar
you can't be the sugar and taste or know the sweetness of sugar so how do you reconcile is giving upward right answer one-word answer from that way the perspective is it's all Maya see advert is very easy you are Brahman Brahman is
Pyar Kiya privations I left his body got into something else third thing is there is also a concept that says you have to be different from the one in order to experience for example examples corridor only if you are different from sugar you can taste the sweetness of sugar
you can't be the sugar and taste or know the sweetness of sugar so how do you reconcile is giving upward right answer one-word answer from that way the perspective is it's all Maya see advert is very easy you are Brahman Brahman is
the
only reality what about this that and the other thing oh it's all
Maya somebody said the problem with Shankara is it's like he flew on
an airplane so when you fly on an airplane across the country you
miss everything that's beneath
you you get your destination you've reached the highest what you wanted enlightenment but the all the vast expanse and variety and infinitude of Maya you miss all of that because you've jumped beyond it but in 'but Queen in the realm of Maya there is a lot which is yet to be discovered what we call the miraculous the Sidney's you're talking about from a yogic perspective that's
you you get your destination you've reached the highest what you wanted enlightenment but the all the vast expanse and variety and infinitude of Maya you miss all of that because you've jumped beyond it but in 'but Queen in the realm of Maya there is a lot which is yet to be discovered what we call the miraculous the Sidney's you're talking about from a yogic perspective that's
why
you see immediately you changed philosophies from
Advaita to yoga Patanjali yoga or to Tantra these are different philosophical systems what they do is, first of all, they take Maya to be real at least provisionally real and then investigate that and use that a lot of what we might call miraculous from a yogic perspective to nothing miraculous it's all-natural it's just we don't know it yet and if you investigated
the Yogi's investigated these things they found extraordinary potentialities and powers in the body in the mind which didn't hardest towards enlightenment
Advaita to yoga Patanjali yoga or to Tantra these are different philosophical systems what they do is, first of all, they take Maya to be real at least provisionally real and then investigate that and use that a lot of what we might call miraculous from a yogic perspective to nothing miraculous it's all-natural it's just we don't know it yet and if you investigated
the Yogi's investigated these things they found extraordinary potentialities and powers in the body in the mind which didn't hardest towards enlightenment
so
this explains that's why you see people who do spiritual practice
asana they come across these extraordinary phenomena do they exist
there
you know people have tried it experimented there have been labs on parapsychology and it's still what do they curse a jury is still out on it
you know people have tried it experimented there have been labs on parapsychology and it's still what do they curse a jury is still out on it
so
we don't know the one problem with these experiments is it's done on
ordinary folk so people who have not cultivated it but if you select
your samples to maybe a select group of Yogi's or Lamas which they
did actually the
Dalai Lama insisted when the mind life dialogues he said when you're going to talk about the efficacy of meditation don't take the population
Dalai Lama insisted when the mind life dialogues he said when you're going to talk about the efficacy of meditation don't take the population
as
a whole you have to take people who have been like veteran meditators
beginning med beginners and people who do not meditate then only you
can but when you get veteran meditators, first of all, they'll not be
willing to submit to experiment so Dalai Lama actually volunteered
some of his lamas the hugo and take part and they had wonderful
results coming out on the efficacy of meditation similarly
I
have seen it myself at least a few instances extraordinary there's
this person who claimed to be able to read minds he demonstrated some
of it and some of it you can be you know it's slate of hand it's any
good magician can do
so
I thought just for my own sake to satisfy myself I'll ask him just a
little experiment which will not satisfy anybody else but just me
simplest experiments are the most difficult that means so there is no
way of manipulating
so I just went up to him and said what am I thinking now and he told me straight away like the very hair on your body will stand on it how do you explain that you can't explain so it's possible it's possible
so I just went up to him and said what am I thinking now and he told me straight away like the very hair on your body will stand on it how do you explain that you can't explain so it's possible it's possible
I've
seen that in some very senior monks extraordinary one of Swami
bearish Ferengi was there he was the president of the Ramakrishna
order the tenth president I swam just to once when
I
was a little kid one of the Swami's who served him who worked under
him when he was the president so this Swami he told me that we kept
hearing that the Swami Swami very solemnly he could actually read the
minds oh
my god I'm telling this and it will go out on the internet because the person I'm talking about his still alive - when he's passed on anyway so he said that
my god I'm telling this and it will go out on the internet because the person I'm talking about his still alive - when he's passed on anyway so he said that
I
wanted to test for myself whether does he really read your mind so
one day those have gone to balloon but you know President Mahad sits
there and everybody comes and they bow down to talk to him and there
are some assistant monks younger monks who stand behind him so this
Swami was on duty that day he was s
tanding
behind me - when do those who have seen various runs years you know
the tiny tiny man his when he passed away he was 26 kgs I think 50
pounds tiny and and it people said that it's like almost every cell
of his body was a computer chip or something is so extraordinarily
hair so he's sitting there and people were filing past and this one
he was standing behind Swami British veranda and thinking all sorts
of unmarked like thoughts standing and thinking all sorts of nonsense
after a
few
seconds of that maybe a minute suddenly this one is sitting there
looks up at him and says enough enough of testing me and then looks
back again looks a bit what do you say to that Swami prima Linda
another one of the Datak disciples of Sri Ramakrishna who's calling
the young monks and novices that come down from the temple we have to
know cut the vegetables for the noon meal and back to kitchen work and the monks are in meditation and think Swami Brahma hadn't they put them up to it you have come here for meditation and becoming mother he is going to make
know cut the vegetables for the noon meal and back to kitchen work and the monks are in meditation and think Swami Brahma hadn't they put them up to it you have come here for meditation and becoming mother he is going to make
your
work in the kitchen so don't listen to you meditate sit here and
meditate and so the younger monks are sitting there and the Swami's
calling from downstairs and then he understood what was going on
there said all right you lot go and meditate go on meditating but if
I
see the noise of the marketplace rising in your minds I will go and
pull you down by your ears and make bring you back to work here I'll
do all the work myself you can go and meditate which means you he's
saying that
I
can see what's going on in your mind's that autobiography of a yogi'
Swami Paramahamsa
Yogananda,
he says when he was a novice in Calcutta in the monastery he's
sitting upstairs in the old building and meditating and his gurus
Swedish for Giri he called from downstairs come here and sweep the
courtyard help me and he says I'm sitting and meditating and
grumbling in my own mind the old man keeps telling me to meditate and
Here
I
am meditating and he's now disturbing me he's asking me to go and
sweep the co-chair well I won't respond
I won't I'll sit quiet and the moment he thought this the response came from below and this guru shouted that if you were too good for this world you wouldn't be in
I won't I'll sit quiet and the moment he thought this the response came from below and this guru shouted that if you were too good for this world you wouldn't be in
it
comes down here and helps me sweep this coat here yeah so tantric
practices Kundalini Yoga all of these are advisors right Shankar is
right they're all part of Maya but that does not mean they're invalid
they are very useful and the problem is we are stuck in some corner
of Maya and we need these technologies to help us so Shankara would
not be against any of these techniques yeah did we have three
questions from the audience yet can we have an
Internet
question yes this is a question from Dave on the shoe on the
Bhagavad-gita in the eighteenth chapter verse 59 60 and 61 of the
Gita Shri Krishna says to
Arjuna
that if thou in thy vanity thinkest of avoiding this fight thy will
shall not be fulfilled for Nature herself will compel thee o Arjuna
thy duty binds thee from thine own nature has it arisen and that was
in my delusion thou desire not to do that very thing thou shalt do
thou art helpless God dwells in the hearts of all beings o Arjuna he
causes them to revolve as it were on a wheel by his mystic power the
summed up meaning of all the the
ee
verses in that God himself by his progress aspect has compelled
Arjuna to take in the action of war so but then Shri Krishna says in
verse eighteen sixty-three thus the knowledge the mystery of mistress
has been declared to you by me reflecting on it fully do what you
will he asks Arjuna to do what he thinks is right according to his
will how can one ant freely have already predetermined by the
supreme
force
if Arjuna is already predestined to kill all his enemies then where
is his free will left to participate taking me straight back to a
classroom in at
Harvard is exactly the question which was being discussed you might think that they don't discuss such subjects they're not at all we're studying the Bhagavad-Gita and in another course at the Emerson building in the philosophy department this question of free will
Harvard is exactly the question which was being discussed you might think that they don't discuss such subjects they're not at all we're studying the Bhagavad-Gita and in another course at the Emerson building in the philosophy department this question of free will
versus
determinism it's an old old question is being discussed so exactly
the same question actually and what
I
answered no answer, yeah we haven't come across answers in thousands
of years of Southeast and best well anyway what is the question is
Krishna is saying that everything here you think or junuh you think
you will not fight
but nature prakruti will compel you into action you think you're going to run away from this fight and sit in a mountain cave and meditate you know what you will MIT you can do that but you know what we meditate upon those Carabas or rascals I just
but nature prakruti will compel you into action you think you're going to run away from this fight and sit in a mountain cave and meditate you know what you will MIT you can do that but you know what we meditate upon those Carabas or rascals I just
when
I had the chance I should have really trashed them you know your mind
will dwell you think you're going to meditate on the atman and
brahman and we won't work that way
so you cannot escape action because you've compelled into action by nature another place where Krishna says nobody can sit still even for a moment without action this body is continuously moving and changing mind is moving and changing all the time helplessly you'll be impelled into action so by Prakriti
so you cannot escape action because you've compelled into action by nature another place where Krishna says nobody can sit still even for a moment without action this body is continuously moving and changing mind is moving and changing all the time helplessly you'll be impelled into action so by Prakriti
by
nature we are impelled into action helplessly there's no you know
there is no option - there's no opting out of it another thing Sri
Krishna says God lives in the heart of all beings makes u
s
move like mish like puppets on a machine that's what he says select
puppets on a machine we are controlled by God in our hearts so God is
within all of us and controls everything that
we
do so this seems - whether it's prakruti or God nature or God it
seems to say there is no free will there is only an illusion we think
we are free but we are not free and today he would have said instead
of nature you would have said neuroscience tells us that we have no
free will it's everything is predetermined on the other and at the end of the Bhagavad-gita he says I have told you what I wanted to tell you now do as you will your teacher seated our guru so can I do as I will or can
free will it's everything is predetermined on the other and at the end of the Bhagavad-gita he says I have told you what I wanted to tell you now do as you will your teacher seated our guru so can I do as I will or can
I
do not do it is their free will or is there no free will first answer
yes there is free will take it for granted and act accordingly
without free-will none of this makes sense spiritual practice
if
I were not free to do spiritual practice then how is it what's the
use of attending Vedanta classes how would
I
even decide to come to a Balanta class or start meditating or doing
yoga or praying all of these decisions they assume the presume free
will so one of the professors there they're saying that imagine if
there are no free will then the entire legal system would collapse
Harvard Law School would go out of business because the entire legal
system is predicated on this assumption that the criminal does
wrong
things freely if somebody put a gun to your head and forced you to
steal some money your blame would be much less because you were
forced the court would take that into account you did not do so
freely you could not blame people you could not charge them with
crimes if they
where
if there was no free will conversely there would be no reward there
would be no praise there would be no goodness else if there were no
free unless you freely choose if somebody
makes you put a gun to your head and makes you donate all your money to the Children's Fund in UNICEF now is are you a very good person not necessarily you might be a cowardly person but you can't claim that look at me I'm such a such so generous but the gun was to my head
makes you put a gun to your head and makes you donate all your money to the Children's Fund in UNICEF now is are you a very good person not necessarily you might be a cowardly person but you can't claim that look at me I'm such a such so generous but the gun was to my head
so
you cannot claim any kind of recognition reward of goodness you
cannot claim goodness without free will you cannot blame without free
will there can be no crying without a free will so a lot of our
society entirely depends on free will look at the arguments used in
court to save people from criminal charges the plea of insanity for
example what is the plea of insanity this
a
person cannot choose to exercise his or her free will and therefore
you should not be blamed because there are other extenuating
circumstances
so free will is essential to the functioning of arts our life our civilization and spiritual life so all spiritual systems
so free will is essential to the functioning of arts our life our civilization and spiritual life so all spiritual systems
all
religions they assume free will it's only when you are can freely
decide to do something that spiritual practice becomes possible in
fact some of them go further
so for example in Christian theology whole existence of evil
so for example in Christian theology whole existence of evil
Hawai
is there evil in God's world God is not to blame God gave us free
will and we freely chose to misuse that free will and we created evil
that's one answer the theory of karma is not very different from that
you see we have free will and we exercise it in doing our karma and
we
get the result of that Karma
so free will is assumed that's my first answer don't worry I'm going to abandon all of this next first answer is that yes there is free will and please act and behave as if you are free you say as if that takes us to the second answer every religion and today neuroscience also trace that there is no free will it's actually an illusion that we have free will at a deeper level first devil is still there yeah when you leave this all please behave as if you have got free faith but whether you examine it scientifically science is its
so free will is assumed that's my first answer don't worry I'm going to abandon all of this next first answer is that yes there is free will and please act and behave as if you are free you say as if that takes us to the second answer every religion and today neuroscience also trace that there is no free will it's actually an illusion that we have free will at a deeper level first devil is still there yeah when you leave this all please behave as if you have got free faith but whether you examine it scientifically science is its
we're
talking about a deterministic universe even with quantum mechanics
and all are still talking about a deterministic universe even with a
probabilistic physics and still, it's a deterministic universe in
some sense or the other freewill doesn't make sense in such a
universe so there are
so
many theories discussing this and desperate attempts to combine free
will and determinism they call them compatibilist theories and
they're whole bunch of theory of books and books have been written on
this they were all failed
so at a deeper level sri krishna is saying sri ramakrishna is saying every religion says it's ultimately God's will not your field even
so at a deeper level sri krishna is saying sri ramakrishna is saying every religion says it's ultimately God's will not your field even
your
free will is
so-called free will is granted to you you can cash it in but it's granted to you by God that story in the in the gospel where the cow is tied to a tree the question of free will is being discussed
so the farmer ties the cow to a tree and gives it a certain length of rope and and that within the radius afforded by that length of rope the cow can graze and again and she can eat grass and odd considered still and biscuits tail you know if the cow pulls against the rope the farmer may come and give it some more rope or may untie it and take it to a greener pasture
so within that radius afforded by the Rope the cow has some freedom but even that radius is also controlled by the farmer similarly we have free
so-called free will is granted to you you can cash it in but it's granted to you by God that story in the in the gospel where the cow is tied to a tree the question of free will is being discussed
so the farmer ties the cow to a tree and gives it a certain length of rope and and that within the radius afforded by that length of rope the cow can graze and again and she can eat grass and odd considered still and biscuits tail you know if the cow pulls against the rope the farmer may come and give it some more rope or may untie it and take it to a greener pasture
so within that radius afforded by the Rope the cow has some freedom but even that radius is also controlled by the farmer similarly we have free
will
for practical purposes but even that is determined by calling it God
or prakruti nature when you see in the procreative in Krishna since
practically then modern science will have nothing to object there yes
it is nature which determines the limits of our freedom finally the
third level yes so first answer was yesterday's free
will
deeper answer no third last level final deep deepest level yes again
Swami Vivekananda says that there is freedom no freedom of the will
but there is freedom when you are enlightened when you realize
yourself as Brahman the absolute that's always free and through Maya,
Ishwara
creates this universe out of freedom completely it's not
deterministic that
way so at the level of enlightenment you have you are free it's not that you have free will but you have freedom
way so at the level of enlightenment you have you are free it's not that you have free will but you have freedom
so
what comes up all of this can you put it all together or in them
checker ability the professor who gave a talk here last year in his
beautiful article why pray to our God who can hear the anklets on an
ants feet it's actually a commentary on a line from the gospel of Sri
Ramakrishna Sri Ramakrishna says Deenie people air Payal new puta
definition the Lord hears the jingling of the anklets needed to
imagine children in India little boys and girls they put anklets on
their ankles
so they make little jingling sounds
so they make little jingling sounds
when
they walk nowadays it's been replaced by these shoes which squeak and
flashlights when the catechins kids walk now imagine an ant
so tiny and its feet are even tinier like you have to design anklets for the feet of the end how tiny they would be but God can hear the sound of your anklets in the ant's field what it means is God knows everything that's in our heart it's just the standard
so tiny and its feet are even tinier like you have to design anklets for the feet of the end how tiny they would be but God can hear the sound of your anklets in the ant's field what it means is God knows everything that's in our heart it's just the standard
the
idea of God knowing everything buts in our heart now I didn't I'm
checking about the ask
so why pray to such a God if God knows everything but you have to pray God knows what we need no like the Bible says ask and it shall be given after knock and it shall be opened you have to ask that's an exercise of your free will
so why pray to such a God if God knows everything but you have to pray God knows what we need no like the Bible says ask and it shall be given after knock and it shall be opened you have to ask that's an exercise of your free will
so
what he says finally is use the illusion of the free will at the
first level and I feel a free will use the illusion recognizing that
actually, it's not free will it's God all the way through so what is
the best use of that appearance of free will it is to continuously
pray and surrender to
God
the Sanskrit Namaha he says philosophy says Namaha mean no Mohammad
salutations but what does it mean he splits it up the Sanskrit into
namah, not mine not I bow my lord o, my lord, to continuously
recognize this in our day-to-day lives in our thoughts in our actions
and to surrender to this absolutely this is the reality to know this
even a Jeevan Mukta who is an enlightened person as far as the life
of this particular body and
personality
is concerned that person lives a life of complete surrender to God
for that person is easy because the person sees clearly that
everything in this realm of name and form is the God's doing for us
it may be difficult because we are only aware of the name and farm we
are not aware of the vastness behind therefore we are terrified when
the disease comes unhappiness comes only it
comes
because this is threatening this tiny existence was I think to be my
existence this is not our existence there's a deeper existence behind
it which is immortal and perfect
so free will yes it's there no it's not there and yes it's there and knowing this please we live our lives accordingly yes yes no one saw me G tell us your name my name is Roger she she
so free will yes it's there no it's not there and yes it's there and knowing this please we live our lives accordingly yes yes no one saw me G tell us your name my name is Roger she she
I
want to thank you, brother, for inviting me this is my first time
here
so welcome I apologize if my question is comes from ignorance you know all our questions come from ignorance is so so one of you know my understanding of Vedanta comes mainly from YouTube particularly watching your video videos and I guess probably is one of the most popular YouTube videos this is your 2000 presentation at can't variety I think two and a half million views
so that's I that's something that I have seen few times and that's and so you are responsible for a good deal of the
so welcome I apologize if my question is comes from ignorance you know all our questions come from ignorance is so so one of you know my understanding of Vedanta comes mainly from YouTube particularly watching your video videos and I guess probably is one of the most popular YouTube videos this is your 2000 presentation at can't variety I think two and a half million views
so that's I that's something that I have seen few times and that's and so you are responsible for a good deal of the
two
and a half million so so my questions are at somewhat at a meta-level
and if I may have a few minutes I want to kinds of not too much we
have to compress it, okay
so so the first question would be that you know since 2014 you have had you know anyone of us and you have had other experiences learned in reading learn new things if you were to give that you've talked about Mundaka Upanishad again how would it be different how'd that this new presentation incorporate new ideas new experiences and how would you fold that in and I guess the basis of the question is in this philosophy how does it incorporate new ideas is it a living philosophy
so so the first question would be that you know since 2014 you have had you know anyone of us and you have had other experiences learned in reading learn new things if you were to give that you've talked about Mundaka Upanishad again how would it be different how'd that this new presentation incorporate new ideas new experiences and how would you fold that in and I guess the basis of the question is in this philosophy how does it incorporate new ideas is it a living philosophy
or
is it correct you know this is this is it right the answer is both
this is it but it's also a living philosophy the teaching is the same
thing which has been there for thousands of years what you find in
the Mundaka Upanishad which is thousands of years old part of the
Atharvaveda
it's
the same thing that I'm talking about in the 21st century at IIT
Kanpur and just this earlier this year at the Bahamas she won and the
yoga ashram yes
so yes it is the same message but does it incorporate new discoveries new points of view certainly does and I'll just give you one example the Mundaka Upanishad itself if you actually
so yes it is the same message but does it incorporate new discoveries new points of view certainly does and I'll just give you one example the Mundaka Upanishad itself if you actually
look
at the history of Indian philosophy the actual textual history of
Indian philosophy you will see Vedanta raita Vedanta is what is
called a johnny-come-lately yeah that's the phrase it appears in a
major form quite late the early players in this field are Sankhya and
the AIA and various schools of Buddhism Jainism Mimamsa
these
are the schools which are obvious from the texts
so the arguments between the Buddhists and the Hindu opponents they were Hindu Duellists than any ayah school mostly later on it was kumara Bhatta the of the minimums of school no way do you really see them interacting with acquaintances the first major advantage text which is available today quite apart from do positions which are there which are much older but the philosophical text is the Manduca Carica of Golda data
so it which is good about this
so the arguments between the Buddhists and the Hindu opponents they were Hindu Duellists than any ayah school mostly later on it was kumara Bhatta the of the minimums of school no way do you really see them interacting with acquaintances the first major advantage text which is available today quite apart from do positions which are there which are much older but the philosophical text is the Manduca Carica of Golda data
so it which is good about this
commentary
on the Manduca position now this is going somewhere which is about
1400 years ago just before Shankaracharya couple of hundred years
before that there were a Buddhist shoonya body philosopher bhava vega
and one of his texts a rare text I found in the Widener Library in
Harvard it's been recently translated into English nobody reads it
it's very obscure but what struck me was one there two chapters
refutation of Sankhya refutation of Vedanta and yet this is 200 years
before
GodFather
wrote the command of chakalaka now when you read the Vedanta that is
presented for refutation there it's based on the ferocious öktem
it's based on the Upanishads some parts of the Vedas and it's very
easily torn apart by the Buddhists because you are saying things like
Brahman is changeless and here is this world of change how do you
reconcile this how can this living person born and
dying
and subject to suffering how can you be the perfect blissful Brahman
so then he proceeds this is 200 years before God about 300 years before God our Father when you come to 300 years later Advaita is being presented by God our Father by writing the commentary on the man Dokie upon assured you find all these things have been incorporated and dealt with already what did they do they took in the two levels of truth you're talking about a blissful absolute unchanging reality that's param Arctica the absolute level of truth and this person was born and suffering
so then he proceeds this is 200 years before God about 300 years before God our Father when you come to 300 years later Advaita is being presented by God our Father by writing the commentary on the man Dokie upon assured you find all these things have been incorporated and dealt with already what did they do they took in the two levels of truth you're talking about a blissful absolute unchanging reality that's param Arctica the absolute level of truth and this person was born and suffering
and
dying and that's called Baba Chanukah actual empirical level of truth
the absolute level of truth is the real truth this is the appearance
in between is Maya all these things are not there in the presentation
300 years ago before
God path all these things are very much during
the presentation of God our Father now you see what has happened in
between but because of this vigorous attacks from the Buddhists what
God had the did was he looked at them and he gave a pedantic response
incorporating a lot of DNA from the Buddhists two levels of truth one
level is an appearance one is the ultimate reality for
the Buddhist
the ultimate reality soon iam the void and that level of appearance
is name and form instead of the void mandu cube or Gordo father puts
Poonam the infinity is the level of truth and ultimate level of the
truck and this is what we experience is an appearance based on that
infinity
now
you have the with the tools and the structure which can resist and
respond to the Buddhists attack did you see how it evolved over 300
years from mandu Kyo Punisher to Mando Erica huge step forward many
things have been incorporated there none of them violate the basic
structure but now what has happened is the basic structure of Brahman
in
the world now begins to look viable and reasonable now not in
current the way Bobby Waker makes it out to be and so over the
centuries it becomes a very powerful system this continuous process
of dialectical attack and response and creating new ways of looking
at the same truth so that was then moving forward a thousand years
Vivekananda
so he says he says in one place this philosophy which means Advaita Vedanta has saved India twice in the past one from his talks about at the ready
so he says he says in one place this philosophy which means Advaita Vedanta has saved India twice in the past one from his talks about at the ready
I
think to put this challenge and he talks about the I think the
ritualists the mimamsikas challenge and once again he says it is it
what Sri Ramakrishna and I have done he has brought forth this
philosophy in a new form incorporating the challenges of this modern
world in many ways practical Vedanta how is it we a very real
the
world we this society is very important to us how does your vedanta
respond is it the monastic renounced the world's sit in a cave,
Shankar Acharya, saying the
world
is false world Brahman alone is real is it that alone then that does
not seem to be capable of responding to the requirements of the
modern world what about science what about human rights and gender
equality and democracy you see all the challenges thrown up a modern
society the new responses in form of Swami Vivekananda which is an
extraordinary liberal open rational presentation of what Shankara
said which I
s
the reformulation of what guru pada said which is a reformulation of
what was there in the open assured itself right and I see so we are
studying different systems of thought I can see it from the
analytic
perspective that how much Advaita has to contribute to questions
which even now at the highest level of academia they're struggling
with the
philosophy
of mind I'm taking a course there so you know what we are discussing
here it is immortal more or less in little more technical language is
exactly what is being discussed there how do I know that the world is
real start with depart and we're reading Descartes and Carnap Rudolf
Carnap the Vienna circle and
Gilbert
Ryle Oxford comma did common language philosophers of
Oxford in the 60s, they
are still light years away from the insights which I'm not saying
only wasn't
the
Buddhist philosophers the song can philosophers Advaita philosophy
they already made these came
not
many of these breakthroughs and we can translate at least some of
these ideas into the modern conversation yes
so that that's very that's you know I was saying that so that answers my second yes so so the other point I was curious about and as a scientist and dabbling in neuroscience for example you know one of the examples that he started today's discussion was
so that that's very that's you know I was saying that so that answers my second yes so so the other point I was curious about and as a scientist and dabbling in neuroscience for example you know one of the examples that he started today's discussion was
I
do the questioning and you know give the example of gives you better
understanding give the example of the post posture being driven into
the ground and what if
we
had a way to through whatever mechanism perhaps science neuroscience
if you had a way to quantify that understanding that is when
I
say that I realized something or when I say I understand something
there is a way that I could quantify it right
so so my understanding of something could be I think I understand but my understanding is less than perhaps yours and what if there is a way to quantify that say
so so my understanding of something could be I think I understand but my understanding is less than perhaps yours and what if there is a way to quantify that say
let's
say you have your phone now say using neuroscience I do the
neuroscience would that help in some of the discussions we are having
in terms of making things more quantitative and making like making
them
I
understand what you're saying but you are coming from a very
scientific worldview what Advaita will say is that examine the
presuppositions of that worldview when we say that which is
measurable is real
so you ask yourself where does that worldview come from where does it come from the scientific method the philosophy of science, for example,
so you ask yourself where does that worldview come from where does it come from the scientific method the philosophy of science, for example,
the
people we are studying the logical positivists Rudolf Carnap and on
the Vienna's a circle Ernst Mach these are the people who develop the
philosophy behind a scientific method so for them verifiability and
truths are same so for example one of the things is if a statement is
verifiable tell me a test and if
it
which it can either pass or fail if you can tell me a try a test then
that statement which you made which can be testable is a meaningful
statement if there is no test which can decide this way or that way
then that statement is meaningless and therefore his conclusion all
statements about God are nonsense a meaningless why they cannot be
tested so but you see what is underneath this kind of an approach
there is already the understanding that
reality
is out there it is measurable quantifiable testable but is that so so
that also has to be questioned yes quantify ability testability and
our modern neuroscience they can all help certainly we are in the age
of modern science and especially neuroscience and we should take the
help of that but also make a deeper search of
the
assumptions underlying materialistic reductionism one question yes
are they ready yes we have just a question about some tell us your
name or item
so a Buddhist question reading some of my David Loy on non-duality who compares Buddhism with Advaita Vedanta and other nondual
so a Buddhist question reading some of my David Loy on non-duality who compares Buddhism with Advaita Vedanta and other nondual
traditions
and a lot of the books even professor Sharma who you recommended in
one of the books so it seems that the comparison is always with
majolica with sort of two truths
I
want to know in your studies of Buddhism have you dealt with things
in the nongelareh things like zouk Shane and Maha mudra and what is
your take on identical similar different I know it's a big question
but and things in that area thank right
so the question is he refers to David Louis book on nonduality where he compares nondual and explores nondual traditions in Asian philosophies especially
so the question is he refers to David Louis book on nonduality where he compares nondual and explores nondual traditions in Asian philosophies especially
Advaita
Vedanta and then also the Dogon and soap chain Buddhism Medea mocha
Buddhism he talks about he doesn't talk about my yarmulke too much
but this non-dualism with Advaitic non-dualism yes so I spent some
time about four or five months studying with one of the leading
expert's professor Garfield J Garfield we studied Indo-Tibetan Madame
occur so the texts of Tsongkhapa and my
farm
and so some of the leading Tibetan commentators so first of all the
Tibetan Buddhist tradition the philosophy it's it comes from two
systems of Indian thought one is the Myakka Buddhism of Nagarjuna I
mentioned bhava Vega Baba Vega Chandra ki t Hippolyta they are all
the school of shunning Nevada which means the school
of
the void of the emptiness, professor is to say the emptiness people
so emptiness and there's another school of mind only or consciousness only began Avada the school of mind only school or consciousness only school and it's a synthesis of the two which you find in Tibetan Buddhism
so the philosophy followed by the Dalai Lama and the monks and they have different schools and very subtle differences between them I'll just make two comments here one is what I'd thought of it before these studies and what changed after this,
so emptiness and there's another school of mind only or consciousness only began Avada the school of mind only school or consciousness only school and it's a synthesis of the two which you find in Tibetan Buddhism
so the philosophy followed by the Dalai Lama and the monks and they have different schools and very subtle differences between them I'll just make two comments here one is what I'd thought of it before these studies and what changed after this,
I'll
just sum up what Isis went through my take on Madhyamika and began
about and the synthesis you find in Tibetan Buddhism is that it's a
kind of Advaita Vedanta where the negative the side is said the world
is an appearance and things are empty in themselves what is the
ultimate reality they will call it thought to
world
the reality or but not reality as in a substantial reality they will
not mention what it is so if you say the negative side of it the
the
world is an appearance without saying the positive side of it that
there is an absolute reality then that's what you get in Tibetan
Buddhism, for example, Monty McCann began Avada that was my
understanding I was wrong how did my understanding change they talk
about the medina Mecca talks about two kinds of emptiness one is the
emptiness of the world and another one is the
the
emptiness of the self this can be very can make you make a Vedanta
feel uneasy or even a Hindu feel uneasy because we are used to a
substantial list view of the
the
self that there is an ultimate reality called the self or God but
remember all of these whether Hindu philosophies or Buddhist
philosophies these are technologies or methodologies for
enlightenment for taking you beyond suffering and they come to a
common understanding that our identification with this body-mind
complex is at the root of our suffering what adds the weight of
Atlanta does not this is my understanding what happened in the class
two classes one is professor Garfield's Indo-Tibetan
man
Tameka another one was professor per ml Patil's classical Indian
Buddhism Sanskrit texts from about 182 or 1080
so a thousand-year period nearly two key insights I'll share with you, one is that about the world Advaita Vedanta says it is actually, Brahman appearing as this world with names and forms because of Maya,
so a thousand-year period nearly two key insights I'll share with you, one is that about the world Advaita Vedanta says it is actually, Brahman appearing as this world with names and forms because of Maya,
it
is actually the Rope appearing as a snake and to say that there is
only the snake and there's no rope behind it that seems silly
something must be real that's our intuition yes you can say what
we
are experiencing is false but then there must be some reality behind
it, it's only the reality which appears as a falsity without reality
how can it be falsity all the way down that's our objection
so here
is the inside it can be how to take example money
so dollars and cents and times so our daily foundation of money not really they exist because our concept of money exists so they are just manifestations of a mutually interdependent interlocking system of constructions in our mind and when you manifest it in the world it becomes dollars and cents and dimes and credit cards and electronic money and Bitcoin and whatnot but none of them really are
so dollars and cents and times so our daily foundation of money not really they exist because our concept of money exists so they are just manifestations of a mutually interdependent interlocking system of constructions in our mind and when you manifest it in the world it becomes dollars and cents and dimes and credit cards and electronic money and Bitcoin and whatnot but none of them really are
the
foundation it's when you say that because we put it this way will you
say that because you have these dollar notes in your pocket,
therefore, there is money no it's the other way around some money the
actual cash and coins are not the foundation on which money is based
they are just manifestations of what is just an understanding a
mutual lick
so the word they use this use fancy words but it's at its heart it's a very simple understanding it is the Magda maca is talking about a coherent East anti-foundationalism what it means is that there is no the foundation ultimately to this universe but it's just things
so the word they use this use fancy words but it's at its heart it's a very simple understanding it is the Magda maca is talking about a coherent East anti-foundationalism what it means is that there is no the foundation ultimately to this universe but it's just things
which are coherent among each other they hang together
nicely but there's nothing that they hang on you may agree it's a
difficult thing to to wrap your mind around but it's at least you
must understand it's understandable what they're trying to say so,
for example, they never they generally do not use the snake they use
to make rope example but the example which is they use for the world
outside is Chandra Kate this example sheaves of hay which when you
arrange them they
all lean on each other so there you can imagine
lots of hate in bundles and stats all leaning on each other so the
entire world it leans on each other there is no underlying foundation
on to it to this it's emptiness all the way through this is one
understanding without brahman
also you can make sense of the world
has coherent is tanta foundationalism okay ii understanding is about
the self so from analytic point of view not the body, not the mind
witness the consciousness which is existence consciousness bliss what
they showed is that you deconstruct the body mind and you see that
none of this can be me and then what is me don't ask that none of
this can be me
why are you asking more than this what you thought was
you I'm showing you that it's not you so generally tell you something
called under Kati's chariot so he says is called Sevenfold reasoning
which
Tibetan lamas actually spent years meditating on what is the
chariot today we might say an SUV but what is the chariot Chandra
Kirti asks is it the parts of the chariot is it is that the chair is
it the wheels and the nave and the axle so no no those are the parts
that are not the chariot so is that
I
did something apart from the parts you just say that there's no space
for the chair your chariot in the ashram you can leave the parts
outside you can bring your chariot in no, you can't do that there's
no chariot apart from the parts also is
are the parts of the
chariot something in which the chariot is kept like a bowl in which
flowers are kept
so the parts are there in that, something called chariot is kept no is it the other way around the chariot is something in which the parts are kept no not like that so, Sevenfold the
so the parts are there in that, something called chariot is kept no is it the other way around the chariot is something in which the parts are kept no not like that so, Sevenfold the
reasoning is going to show that there's no such thing is a chariot
don't for your SUV will still be there and yet in practical life, you
can treat that whole thing as a chariot and you can go about using
it
serves all practical purposes that's the two levels of truth so
deconstruct the self to see that there is no such thing as a self and
then go about your business whose business that thing which appears
to be the self what that removes you're the suffering which is clinging
to the body and mind as the self so this was my understanding how to
do
you reconcile the two Advaita Vedanta shift the reference of the eye
from the body-mind to Brahman to witness consciousness whether
through the method of trick Krishna Vivica the method of the five
sheets or method of
waking to dream deep sleep whatever it is to a
non-objective pure subject consciousness it shifts the references if
shift reference means what does the word I refer to when I say
o'clock it refers to this when I say clot it refers to this when
I
say hi what does it refer to usually, we will set this Advaita
Vedanta shifts it you can show you that it no it's not this it's the
witness consciousness and thereby
you overcome all problems because
all problems are because of this body and mind and our reference to
this body and mind as myself that's Advaita Vedanta shifting the
reference of the eye what does much Dimmick about this they to madam
Akka Buddhism what it does is it dissolves the eye there itself none
of this body and mind is worthy of being called I and that's it
you're free so so this is my new improved understanding and which you
take broader views both work both works and
it It was amazing to see Swami Chetan Angie from st. Louis,
I
spoke with him recently he said I came across something amazing I
just want to tell you Swami should on under who was the disciple of
Swami Vivekanand who worked a lot on
so he awakened his complete works he is one of the presidents of our order long way back one of the earliest disciples of swami Vivekananda he writes is responded in a the
so he awakened his complete works he is one of the presidents of our order long way back one of the earliest disciples of swami Vivekananda he writes is responded in a the
diary he writes the difference between Shankara and Nagarjuna
Shankara says the eye is Brahman Nagarjuna dissolves the idea and
there itself exactly what
I said and I got that insight from so this
is new improved understanding not that the old the understanding was
wrong but this is much much more fair understanding instead of
reducing Madame occur to Advaita Vedanta you appreciate both as grand
systems in their own right and take them at their word don't say that
oh they got you're talking about Brahmin you just don't we have to
too shy to mention Brahmin no we are not talking about Brahmin the
MIDI America which
is say to you and you take it takes the mat
America at his word and sees that the system works, however, I will end
by saying after all this on the streets of Cambridge just outside
Harvard University
I happen to run into a Lama a Tibetan lama he said
what are you doing here I said I'm studying and I'm studying your
philosophy so which books are you studying I said this book and that the book I'm studying with professor Garfield and he suggested some other
books and then he said but you are adroit in
I said yes oh it's
all the same, you know not only the head
so this is not a professor this is actual practitioner laughter materialism he even went on to say
so this is not a professor this is actual practitioner laughter materialism he even went on to say
I was amazed he said those five verses by Shankara and I said
Manisha Pancham the five verses on enlightenment by Shankar Acharya
CD SES I use it in my teaching he said you could first ready one more
we can take a question that gentleman was raising his hand or not
please come yeah tell us your name my name is Matt yeah and any the question
I wrote it down so I don't forget I've heard you talk about Brahma Loka the highest heaven in many of your talks
I understand the
concept of one going beyond that and how one still has an identity
there and has to attain moksha one must go beyond name and form and
beyond the experiencer like not chaqueta ass Yama
about going beyond
heaven and is not interested in it and the question that arose in me
is that if we all have the opportunity to transcend Maya where does
that leave God can God also have the opportunity to transcend Maya or
is that or is God positioned as a creator of Maya and can never move
past it and then I have a second part to this question
I understand
that advisor is open to all religions and you've also mentioned that
you know if one meditates on a one they can have like a vision of
whatever God they meditate on and my question is if someone if you
know a few different people will have a life of devotion to certain
religions like you know Muhammad or Christ or Kali is there's a fight
to see them all go to different heavens or different or is you know
like different heavens where those gods live or are
it all under the
same like a growl okay all right actually is a pretty good question
matter to ask what's the general follow this question will be in our due to Vedanta which sounds more like a philosophy and religion what
is the role of religion by
which I mean God and heaven spiritual
practice and the destiny of human beings where does this leave all of
that the answer is Brahma Loka what he talked about the highest the conception of spiritual heaven where I am still there maybe not in
this body maybe in a more perfect heavenly body or in some form and
my beloved God is there and I live in the eternal
the holy presence of God enjoying sugar not becoming is that a
possibility well that seems to be the goal of all theistic religions
it's a sort of oversimplified description of the Christian Judaic
Mohammedan is Muslim are Vaishnava or Shiva heaven whether it's
Janet or the Christian heaven or why Kunta or Kailash or the various
pure lands of the Mahayana heavens that seem to be a fair description
I mean sort of simplified description where does it what does our way
to say about it Advaita gives that answer we often talk about
attaining enlightenment here and now and realizing that you are the
absolute and it's done no more question of heavens and hills or
anything like that it's done because Brahman alone is the reality and
heavens hells and earth
and all the bodies and there are all
appearances you go beyond the movie to the screen itself that's what
we often talk about but if you go back to the original texts of
Advaita Vedanta the Upanishads they talk about
the second option - if
one leads an ethical and religious life and devotion to God they call
it ooop asana worship of God
so ethical and moral life plus love and devotion to God what happens to these persons suppose they do not attain the realization I am Brahman either they are not interested in it or they tried but they did not get it but it's still backed up by a lifetime of devotion and love and surrender and this passion for worldly if one does not have this passion one is going to come back into the cycle anyway, what happens they go to this heaven so Brahma Loka is a generic term from an Advaita perspective the Ramakrishna
so ethical and moral life plus love and devotion to God what happens to these persons suppose they do not attain the realization I am Brahman either they are not interested in it or they tried but they did not get it but it's still backed up by a lifetime of devotion and love and surrender and this passion for worldly if one does not have this passion one is going to come back into the cycle anyway, what happens they go to this heaven so Brahma Loka is a generic term from an Advaita perspective the Ramakrishna
Loka we talk about the why Moonta that Vaishnav was
talked about the Kailash the Shia was talk about daily Loka which
the chakras talked about or the Muslim or Christian and Judea Kevin
no, they may not agree but this is what Advaitic perspective is all off
they are talking about Brahma Loka the highest spiritual realm where
the devotee of God goes ultimately if enlightenment is not there yet
and stays there for a really really long time and at the end of this
cycle so goes so all of this is very theological, not very
philosophical at the end of the cycle creation is a cycle of creation
by the grace of God, these highly spiritual Souls attain to the the
the realization I am Brahman and then they lose their individuality and
remain as Brahman
so that that's the idea so that's the place of religion religion is there and if you ask a non duelist what do you say about religion the nondualist will say if it's a mature non realist will say highly recommended
so that that's the idea so that's the place of religion religion is there and if you ask a non duelist what do you say about religion the nondualist will say if it's a mature non realist will say highly recommended
if you want to
be a successful nondualist religion is a good is a very good
foundation but only a foundation that's I love that story about a
Ramana Maharshi if heard of Ramana Maharshi Who am I they would
always ask that question so what is young but this person was a very a
a simple devotee who came to Ramana Maharshi and said look I don't like
all that
Who am I but I love Narayana my Lord Narayana is that all
right and ramanamma she obviously touched by sincerity said yes it's
all right oh it's all right if I worship Narayan yes
so after death will I go to wake on to heaven they're bored of Narayana and Ramana where she said yes I'll go to eye contact
so after death will I go to wake on to heaven they're bored of Narayana and Ramana where she said yes I'll go to eye contact
when I see Narayan I will I
see God in heaven yes you will oh and will God see me Narayan I will
Narayana see me yes he will oh that's
so wonderful and beliefs speak to me will God speak to me in heaven no monomer she said yes either oh and what will God say what will barfi Narayana say he will say find out Who am I on that note thank you very much thank you
so much boom Shanti Shanti Shanti hurry he owned that such Sri Ramakrishna Aparna Moscow
so wonderful and beliefs speak to me will God speak to me in heaven no monomer she said yes either oh and what will God say what will barfi Narayana say he will say find out Who am I on that note thank you very much thank you
so much boom Shanti Shanti Shanti hurry he owned that such Sri Ramakrishna Aparna Moscow
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