Five Verses on Enlightenment 2 of 2 by Sw. Sarvapriyananda

Five Verses on Enlightenment 2 of 2 by Sw. Sarvapriyananda at Vedanta Society Berkeley

Sw. Sarvapriyananda at Vedanta Society Berkeley

Five Verses on Enlightenment 2 of 2 by Sw. Sarvapriyananda at Vedanta Society Berkeley. 

The awareness it's simplest the fact of our life and yet 
we do not notice that all right two approaches to proving what are we trying to prove you are claiming or advantage claiming that the entire universe which seems to be 

so solid how there is an appearance in consciousness is not apart from consciousness does not constitute a second to consciousness non-dual not - 
how do you say that can you prove it one is the classical Advaitic approach based on text if you ask a pundit a classical scholar in India he will say this and the second one will be a more philosophical approach may be more suited to a modern type 

so two approaches quickly the first approach is text-based

 if you ask a classical scholar that scholar will say or you want me to prove that the universe is nothing other than consciousness okay in the Venetians specifically for example ty Tyrion Venetian there is a line which says test Magua a the smart man aha akasha Samatha from this Brahmin which is none other than the Atman Brahman means this reality Brahman which is none other than you the self what happened space emerged and then Akasha, 

why you love me Agni repeat Eevee from space, emerged the wind and from that emerges fire from that water from that emerge the earth and the five elements were created and from which the entire universe has been created

Sw. Sarvapriyananda at Vedanta Society Berkeley

so now if the five elements have emerged from the Atman from Ramana Rahman which is pure consciousness then Atman pure consciousness becomes the cause and all of these five elements become the effect in Sanskrit Karana and cardia cause and effect no different from saying if you take the root as the cause and you make it into a podium the podium is the effect the material out of it males are the cause and the podium is the effect okay 

 so this whatever the cause is it must be present in the effect if you make a table out of wood you can be sure that the table is wooden if you make in a classical example a bust out of clay you can be sure of one the thing you don't know what can impart it to with me but you can be sure of one thing the pot is clay obviously if there is a wave in the bay out there in the water out there is a wave you know whatever the wave is you can be sure it's water obviously because if the cause is water the effect is going to be water if the cause is clay the effect the pot will be clay if the cause is wood the effect the table will be wood there's no doubt about it if the cause is pure consciousness the effect will be pure consciousness 

so what you experience as the five elements in primitive cosmology space and air and fire and water and Earth's now will have 170 hundred eighty the periodic table and everything but anyway whatever you experience as an object if it has emerged from the subject then it also must be in some sense pure consciousness alone and therefore proved what was what were we trying to prove don't forget that this entire universe nothing but pure consciousness if it has emerged from pure consciousness then it must be the new pure consciousness is the cause and this universe is the effect 

so this universe must be nothing other than pure consciousness though it doesn't look like that now at this point and it's not really unreasonable also because after all when we dream for example we dream of people and places and houses and things and events and dogs and cats and here the fact is all of those are mind in our dreams they look pretty solid if you try to dig in into the ground in your dream I'd say oh is this in mind you won't mind that but it's a practice fear 
my,

 the dreaming mind has dreamt up all of that consciousness alone appears as its object now at this point, 

a modern the mind will object pardon the pun with the object all of this is based upon a text,

 you quoted from the opposition and derived it from there Upanishad said the five elements have emerged from consciousness and 

Sw. Sarvapriyananda at Vedanta Society Berkeley

so the five elements must be nothing other than consciousness fine but suppose I don't believe all that to an ancient mind the opening shots being path a part of the Vedas was proof scriptural proof in Sanskrit shooting brahmana but now we may be fine with scriptures and texts but we would like independent reasoning philosophical reasoning can you give me some kind of reasoning to think that this universe which I'm experiencing is in some sense consciousness or at least is not apart from consciousness here is the reasoning very quickly how 
do we know two things are one or different what are we trying to understand is the universe one with me the awareness or is it really different and out there is it in main awareness 

or is it out there is it different from me the way to understand this is a technique there are a philosophical method and analysis in two things are all mazing periods together and can never be shown separately then you have cause to think that they are in some sense one the example here is that one Swami gives a very funny example that a person an elderly a person who has a nice grin you're thinking is that though are they real teeth or out their dentures well only way to know because every the time you meet the person the teeth are in the mouth 

so you don't know really the only way to know is if you pray to pay him a sudden surprise visit and knock on his door suddenly unannounced and you come and he comes out with a grandfatherly toothless grin and the teeth are sitting there in the little box ah I see them separately 

so they are not one and they are not you know integral they're separate but if there's really literally no me of experiencing something separately from another thing, 

you can never claim that they're really separate what is the proof that why am I saying this now think of anything objective anything that we have experienced in life our parents of other people what food that we have eaten movies that we have seen books that we have read our bodies our own thoughts have anything ever been experienced apart from consciousness can amazingly be experienced apart from the consciousness of course not it's impossible it's a trick question because the moment you say experienced consciousness is built into the question of how can you experience other than consciousness 

so the physicist was in New York he's our senior-most member in the ashram bill Conrad he's 95 she said, 

Swami 
I have designed an experiment to prove that things exist apart from consciousness what is the experiment simples in this rule we set up a video camera like this and we all leave the nobody's conscious here no consciousness when we come back and look at the recording you can see the hall is still there the church is still there everything's there you don't have to have a conscious observer 

so this was an argument against Berkeley after whom the University in the town is named somebody asked him 

if everything is in his mind suppose when nobody is looking does that tree exist only when you look the tree snaps into existence that would be really odd but his answer was very interesting he said when nobody is looking the tree still exists why because God is looking and therefore he proves the existence of God because the universe exists only as an object of a mind God's mind is always there so that's why the universe exists

 so that was his way of proving he was a bishop so he had to prove the existence of God 

Sw. Sarvapriyananda at Vedanta Society Berkeley

so that we need not go so far just look at our own experience nothing can be experienced apart from consciousness what was my answer to bilk Andre 
I said truly when you set up the camera and you record this room and we later on come back and look and the room is still there when setting up the camera and leaving the room and coming back and looking at the recording all of it was in consciousness that didn't convince him 

so I had to give an example could it be I said the bill could it be possible all of this the experiment could it be possible in the dream that you dreamt it all and then you wake up suddenly you see everything that setting up the camera recording it and looking at the results of the recording all of it was in a dream that could be possible 

so why not here everything is in consciousness your entire experiment was in consciousness see this is how they're thinking it's a very radical way of looking at it you may say you're talking crazy stuff this is the 21st century and don't forget you are on those types of UC Berkeley well there's a 21st-century philosopher gallon Strossen who wrote a very interesting article recently he wrote that he called it the hard problem of matter  Five Verses on Enlightenment 2 of 2 by Sw. Sarvapriyananda at Vedanta Society Berkeley (Part_2)

so little tongue-in-cheek but very even very nicely written article he says in that article you can google it and find it the hard problem of the matter he says actually,

 David Chavez should not worry there is no hard problem of consciousness why they are always conscious Felix Pete and we are experiencing ourselves is conscious all the time whenever we experience ourselves we are experiencing ourselves as conscious by definition true or not but the matter that's another question altogether Madame depends on 
my consciousness to reveal it and when they are investigating the 

so-called real matter out there the more we investigated with modern science particle physics the more it is disappearing before our eyes he writes that the men of the investigate matter from solid hard matter to molecules to atoms to electrons and protons to quarks to strings through purse strings whatnot it goes down further and further down where does it end we it's disappearing before our eyes he says he says he comes to matter in what has to be proved consciousness does not have to be proved to imagine but then the reversal what is the proof that the universe exists we tell me what is the proof that the universe exists the only proof that you can give me anybody any a scientist can give me the only proof is because

 I see it because it is revealed to my instruments because I hear it I touch it all you are proving is consciousness true or not all you're proving his consciousness where is the proof of matter 

so that was gallons trusses point of view 21st-century philosophy, 

not Shankara Satya 1400 years ago Frank our Acharya says is entire universes and appearance in consciousness if you ask why does it appear it consciousness could have just left well enough alone just be consciousness and know why does it appear in this way this is a big question 
I will not go into it Shankar answer is the answer is all of the sudden one change that of a trigonal age from 
my algorithm answered in Advaita always is Maya 

so somebody ought to exasperation said to see it's no use arguing with you nondue lists you neither says Brandon or you say Maya that's all your varied is exasperating talking with you guys 

so Maya which is constituted of the three Gunas sattva rajas tamas because of that it appears but anyway we can explain it in other ways also it's an appearance because of that, 

it unlisted anonymity 

so Katherine it ta paraded money one who has this firm conviction this clarity that I am this unbounded limitless consciousness he calls it the transcendental bliss socata a Parini circuitry transcendental bliss how 
do you understand it as bliss understand it as completeness both Naga as holiness why wholeness because if there is no second thing apart from you the consciousness then you are complete in yourself whatever seems to be another is nothing other than you then you are complete they where is your limit where is the limit to consciousness where does it stop there's no it stops here and the tip of 
my finger are we not conscious this knowing stocks at the goal iconic cannot see beyond the door but you are aware that there's something beyond the door that's also in your awareness what is not in your awareness 

so the entire object of experience is an appearance in consciousness and that is why consciousness is without limit 

so clutter a parade int need money it is pure consciousness because there is no second to it there is no mixture in it let that person be a chandala or a Brahmin or whatever that person who has countess clarity about one's own the reality that that person is 
my guru this is the second verse let me quickly go through the other verses before we go into the Q&A one the thing here

 I would be failing in my duty if I did not mention that these verses are connected to the maha vaakya s' that's one explanation of what does that mean all of Advaita Vedanta it's 

so simple that it can be encompassed in these five verses or it can be encompassed in one sentence what is that sentence that those sentences are called maha vaakya is great sentences great sentence is not in the number of words in that sentence but in the because they are profound or total Omaha profound in the meaning example the famous one which everybody has heard about is thought to AMA see that a lot that's from the Chandra Upanishad but there are three others there are four which are taken as great sentences there are many such sentences in definitions but four are conventionally taken one from each of the four Vedas 

so thought to AMA C is taken from the Chandra Upanishad that thou art which is from the same Veda then pranayama consciousness is brahman that is taken from the idea which is from the Rigveda and then a homonym asked me 
I am Brahman that is taken from the Brethren ikebana ship which is from the Yajurveda and then finally 
I am Atmaram this very self is the absolutist is Brahman that is taken from the mandu cube initial which is from the Atharvaveda and they all being the same thing that you are that absolute but we are actually that absolute and the theory is each of these verses are connected to one maha vaakya 

so the first sometimes the collection is clear sometimes it's obscure the first verse the connection is very clear we talked about consciousness 

so it is connected to that that that maha vaakya consciousness is brahman Branham from that is used that is the connection in the first verse the second verse is even more clear it starts off with the maha vaakya Brahm Reena 
I am Brahman clearly that maha vaakya I am Romanus is the theme of the second verse the third verse the connection is more obscure let me read the third verse Ashwin Aishwarya may wish to Alma Keenum nice Giovanni randomly shot all Hashanah which a discrete Impreza haha some in 
my epoch a product our summer items of apples it gave money Sharma what does it mean Joshua Ashwin astronomy Bhavesh to a McCollum this entire universe is continuously changing is destructible it passes away everything that that story about the A Buddhist monk who came to the transience of life impermanence of light the Buddhist every become is so this Buddhist monk comes to the king and the complaints you know

 I have so many troubles the enemies have surrounded the kingdom and the rains have failed we have famine in the kingdom and the ministers are incompetent and 
my print the prince my son doesn't seem to be interested in you know learning the ropes of being a king and all of that 

so it's all terrible and the monk said Oh King this too shall pass okay ten years later the monk was again passing through that Kingdom and he met the king and asked the king how are you and the King said all by our blessing

 so he said everything has turned out well the enemies have become friends and they were plentiful reigns and there is a bountiful harvest and the ministers have been replaced and the prince has grown up to be a wonderful young man who is very interested in learning so it's all good and the monk said you know King this too shall pass 

so shush - unless you are a male official McCallum does that same definition there are realists and a pessimist and an optimist a pessimist is one who sees the long dark tunnel ahead an optimist is one who sees the light at the end of the tunnel and a realist is one who sees the long the dark tunnel ahead and the light at the end of the tunnel and the next dark tunnel an all this is continuously changing just one last forum to be destroyed tomorrow to be lost tomorrow and this is understood this whole teaching is understood by the teaching of the Guru teaches us and me honey remember marauder but all this is grounded in the unchanging pure consciousness which 
I am always concentrating on that centered in the truth nearly we are - and our a panel near Biagio means without crookedness in the pure of mind and shan't ahkmenrah means with the peaceful mind,

 these are the two qualifications in Vedanta we talk about fourfold qualifications but literally,

 they can all be reduced to two things a pure light and a calm mind and those two are also connected a pure mind can be a comment with that kind of a mental approach the Guru and listen to the teachings now how is this connected to a make a great teacher great sentence the Maharaja here is supposed to be tucked to the mercy that thou art 

so I said it's an obscure connection what is the obscure a connection who says that thou art the teacher says to the student that thou art 

so it says here hearing from the teacher so that kind of an obscure connection that the teacher what have you heard from the teacher that thou art, 

of course,

 a lot of Vedanta but the basic the idea is that thou art and but know each other's freedom brother Madison with 
my power ok all accumulated Karma's which are given results in the past and which are about to give results in the future all of them are burned in them in the fire of enlightenment that means this is the last light they will be no more births produced by accumulated Karma and this life the remaining part of this life is prana the high as Samantha Tom suave apoo surrendering this body as long as it lives surrendering sunder surrendering it to the remaining karma prarabdha karma 

so this all whole theory of activated karma and accumulated karma I'm not going into that so anyway they can under put it very beautifully what is the attitude of the enlightened person to this particular body because 
I now know that I am NOT the god but still this body appears after enlightenment also everything the world will appear exactly as it is the body will also appear mind will also appear but 
I know I am NOT it then what is my attitude to it,

 Swami Vivekananda says he then no more how body lives or dies karma will float down let karma float in town go now from place to place and help them out of my ass behaviors that way he puts it 

so that's the life of an enlightened person that's exactly what Shankar Acharya is saying 1400 years ago this is 
my firm conviction fourth verse yadi Lee Jung Narada without the Hama Cantus photography yet pasa Rida action of a Shia the photo voce Donna Tom bass JP de tucumán Dahlonega smooth Tim Saddam Hawaiian yo-yo beta mana 

so he could be a shaman he charmer that one consciousness which animates lower animals and human beings and the gods it's one consciousness which runs through all of them which 
I see very clearly now, 

I understand a grasp very clearly now by whose light mind and the senses and the body are illumined though they are not conscious in themselves 

so the consciousness which we feel now right now is not the pure consciousness in itself it's a reflection in the body-mind system by that light Tom Haas says it's like the Sun hidden a cloud what is the cloud not knowing not understanding this that's the cloud now screw tinsel our Hawaiian notice that even when the Sun is hidden by a cloud even the crowd is living by the sunlight the Sun behind it reveals the cloud which is riding the hiding the Sun similarly, 

even though 
I do not know myself as pure consciousness everything 

I know what 

I see and hear and smell and taste and touch are because of that pure consciousness its light is revealing. 

Five Verses on Enlightenment 2 of 2 by Sw. Sarvapriyananda at Vedanta Society Berkeley 

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