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March 20, 2024

The Bearded Mystic's Oneness Conversations with Swami Sarvapriyananda Ji

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Season 6 Oneness Conversations

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Exploring Advaita Vedanta and The Journey to Self-Realization with Swami Sarvapriyananda

In this detailed conversation on 'The Bearded Mystic's Oneness Conversations', Rahul hosts Swami Sarvapriyananda, a renowned teacher of Advaita Vedanta and the spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York. Swami Sarvapriyananda discusses the concept of Brahma Gyan (knowledge of Brahman), emphasizing that the ultimate reality, according to Advaita Vedanta, is the understanding 'I am Brahman'. He elaborates on the profound yet subtle nature of this realization and its significance in surpassing suffering and achieving the true goal of life. Furthermore, he addresses various philosophic branches related to reality, knowledge, and value, and how Advaita Vedanta's answer to these fundamental questions is Brahman. The conversation also touches on mystic experiences, the importance of preparation and desire in spiritual progression, and the relevance of Vedanta in everyday life. Swami Sarvapriyananda advises on handling worldly desires and stresses the importance of continuous spiritual inquiry and effort. The discourse concludes with insights into the role of grace in spiritual awakening and the essential attitude of renunciation for genuine seekers, reinforcing the idea that anyone, regardless of their lifestyle, can embark on the path to enlightenment.

0:00 Conversation with Swami Sarvapriyananda
00:57 What is Brahm Gyana
08:16 The Insight into Brahman
09:58 How can I see God?
24:21 Why do people leave Nonduality and go back to Dualistic Paths
33:49 Is Being Aware of Being Aware enough?
40:05 Being a Spiritual Seeker
41:55 Should we change spiritual lineages in the internet age?
49:16 Are Guru and God One?
53:04 How can we open ourselves to Grace?
56:32 How to read  spiritual texts that tell you to be a sanyasi or monk?
59:40 A Question that hasn't been asked yet to Swami ji?
01:02:08 What do we do if vasanas overwhelm the mind?
01:07:03 Thank you and what's in store for the next podcast with Swami ji

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Transcript
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Hello and welcome to The Bearded Mystic's Oneness Conversations, and I'm joined here today with Swami Sarvapriyananda Ji, , in my opinion, one of the best Advaita Vedanta teachers that we have today, and a personal favourite of mine.

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Swami Sarvapriyananda Ji has been a minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York since January 2017.

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He joined the Ramakrishna Mutt in 1994 and received sannyas in 2004.

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Swami Sarvapriyananda Ji is a well known speaker on Vedanta and his talks are extremely popular globally via the internet.

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Swami Ji has engaged in dialogue with many eminent thinkers such as Deepak Chopra, Rupert Spira, Bernardo Kastrup, Rick Archer, David Chalmers and the legendary Sam Harris.

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Uh, so Swamiji, welcome to the Bearded Mystic Podcast.

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Wonderful to have you.

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Thank you, Rahul.

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Thank you for having me.

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Thank

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forward to our conversation.

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you.

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Thank you.

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So I'm going to go for a deep question.

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Right.

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, is what is Brahm Gyan?

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I remember hearing in one of your talks, you mentioned how, uh, you translated it or interpreted it as insights into Brahman.

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Could you expand over that?

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So what is Brahm Gyan and,

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Brahma Gyan, from the Advaita Vedanta perspective, the straight answer would be Brahma Gyan is the knowledge of the form, I am Brahman.

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In Sanskrit, Aham Brahmasmi.

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And that's Brahma Gyan.

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Brahma means the ultimate reality, or Brahman, or Brahma.

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Um, and Gyan just means knowledge.

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Now, um, then if you dive deep into it, it's, uh, it's very deep, very profound.

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Basically, the idea is that there is an, actually there is an ultimate reality in this universe.

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And that's not so controversial because I think even most reductive materials scientists also would say, you know, sure there is this reality and that reality is matter and energy and time and space.

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But what Advaita Vedanta considers to be reality, um, is that you are that reality.

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That's the core of, uh, Advaita Vedanta.

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Um, now, on the face of it, I am that ultimate reality.

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I would prefer it, that it is right, but it doesn't seem so.

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See, when we look at ourselves, we see ourselves as a very small being.

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Here I am, this body, this personality.

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One among millions and millions of, um, uh, you know, living beings, maybe billions of human beings and billions and billions of other living beings.

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Also, so small, I'm just this one vanishingly insignificant corner of a tremendously vast universe.

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The more cosmology advances, the more we, it seems the boundaries are being pushed ever further back.

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And if you consider time, we seem to be a speck of, you know, momentary existence in an endless ocean of time.

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So whether it's in object, individual, um, as an individual being, or in the vastness of space, or in the eternity of time, we seem to be extremely limited.

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And erm our lives, we're not very clear what the point of it all is, and it seems to be vanishingly small and insignificant.

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So that's what, that's the starting point.

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That's what we naturally feel when we look around the world and look at ourselves, whoever we are, wherever we are.

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And Advaita Vedanta reverses that.

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It's very radical.

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It says that, no, you are actually not this, just this limited body and mind.

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You are something much more profound, extraordinarily deep.

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You are this limitless existence consciousness bliss.

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So, not that you are a tiny insignificant corner of the universe.

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Rather, all of space is actually an appearance in you, as you might have experience in a dream universe, for example.

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When you wake up from a dream universe, you feel, Oh, all the world that I saw in there, it's just a dream.

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So therefore, all of it was, in a sense, imagined in my mind.

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Something like that.

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All of what we consider to be physical space is actually in you.

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You are not in space.

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Space is in you, as you, the real you.

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Um, time.

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You are not a tiny, you know, instant in time, a body which is born and dies within a few years.

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No, rather time also is an appearance in you.

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You are, if I can say, more eternal than time itself.

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And all of this is you already.

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It's not something that has to be accomplished.

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It's always has been a fact.

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So that's the, uh, that's the real nature of, uh, the self, who we really are according to Advaita Vedanta.

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Now obviously we'll say that, that just sounds crazy, I don't know any bit of it.

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Yes, so I don't know any bit of it, that doesn't, it doesn't seem to be my experience at all.

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That's where Brahma Gyan comes in.

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There is this ultimate reality, you are this ultimate reality, but yes, you say that you don't know it, you don't feel it to be true, you don't experience it.

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So to know it and to finally be able to claim that, yes, it's a fact.

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It's the greatest of all facts.

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And that takes you beyond all suffering.

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The point also of all of this life, it takes you beyond all suffering.

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So that's Brahma Gyan.

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Brahma Gyan is the realization of my true nature.

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That true nature is infinite existence, consciousness, bliss.

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And it is to be accomplished.

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And then the realization of that is the purpose of life.

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Life, the goal of life, and it has to be accomplished through knowledge, and this knowledge is what Advaita Vedanta, uh, gives us.

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Yeah, I can add something here just that comes to my mind right now.

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You know, I was just thinking, philosophy has, broadly speaking, these three branches.

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One is, um, What's real?

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What's true?

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And I just spoke about ultimate reality.

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Is this matter energy ultimately real?

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Is God ultimately real?

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Or is it some absolute like Brahman?

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Is that ultimately real?

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So what's real?

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What's true here?

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And that's called metaphysics.

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A new name for that is ontology, ontos being, being itself.

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Then, next question that should come up logically is how do you know all this?

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So, the question about knowledge, epistemology, epistemology studies knowledge.

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How do we get knowledge of anything?

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I mean worldly stuff, spiritual stuff, religious stuff, scientific stuff.

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And then there is another branch of philosophy which is, which used to be like a whole different areas of study like aesthetics, you know, art and beauty, ethics.

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Um, which is morality.

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Now there is a new term, axiology, sort of to go along with, I guess, ontology and epistemology.

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Axiology goes with values.

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It could be aesthetic values, it could be moral, ethical values.

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So what's the point of it all?

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What's good?

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What's right?

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What's wrong?

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All of these three questions, um, three great questions of philosophy.

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What's real?

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How do you know?

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And what's the point of it all?

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What's right?

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Wrong?

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What's valuable?

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These three questions, notice how Brahman, the word which you used, is Advaita Vedanta's answer to all three questions.

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What's real?

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Ontologically, Brahman as existence is real.

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What's, uh, how do we know anything at all?

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Chit, Brahman as consciousness, makes all knowledge possible.

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It's not a dead existence, it's a shining existence.

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And, what's the point of it all?

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Brahman as Ananda, as bliss, fulfilment, completion, wholeness, that's the point of it all.

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So it just struck me, maybe just last year or something, staring at us in the face, what the deepest questions of humanity, fundamental, the deepest questions of philosophy, and here is one term, Brahman, as you said, which breaks out into Sat, Chit, Ananda, it's the same thing.

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They are not three aspects, they are just the same thing, but they answer the three greatest questions of philosophy.

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So the answer to our deepest questions is Brahman.

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Beautiful, and how did you come up with the term insights into Brahman?

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I found that to be beautiful because a lot of people translate Brahm Gyan as like God knowledge or true knowledge or divine knowledge, but you said insights into Brahman.

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Was that something you coined or you heard somewhere?

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I don't know where I said that, but that would be true.

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Knowledge of Brahman is technically alright.

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It needs to be qualified.

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God knowledge is also technically alright, but again it needs to be qualified a lot.

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What do you mean by God?

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What exactly do you mean by God knowledge?

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Insight into our real nature is insight into Brahman.

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You know, that would be about right.

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I don't know where I said it.

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think it might have been the, um, the Jnana Yoga, um, talk that you did, Swami Vivekananda Ji's Jnana Yoga,

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yes.

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Um, insights, well, technically from Advaita Vedanta, it would, they would be fine if you called it, The insight into Brahman and the nature of that insight would be, I am Brahman.

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That's the core of Brahma Gyana.

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You have a little bit of an understanding this way, a new revelation that way, that's not Brahma Gyana.

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That's alright, that's spiritual progress, that's spiritual insights, but the essence of Brahma Gyana is, I am Brahman.

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That realization should become as natural as it is for me to think and say and behave as I am Sarvapriyananda right now.

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It should be as natural as that.

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And as effortless, and as real, or more than that, even I am Sarvapriyananda is an assumed thing, you know, it's been, it's a name that's been given to me, uh, when I became a monk, and so how natural that has become to me, it should be more natural than that.

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Beautiful, beautiful.

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Um, Swamiji, uh, one of the questions, I hear a lot, and I like to ask you is, you know, Swami Vivekananda Ji's question to Sri Ramakrishna ji, which was, you know, I want to see God and how can I make this a reality in my day to day life, in the, you know, in the mundaneness of life and also in the extraordinariness of life?

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How can I see God?

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Yes, So can we see God?

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And how can we see God?

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Why do I need to see God also, if you ask that question?

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So, uh, notice how these are epistemological questions, and the last one, why do I need to see God, is, uh, an axiological or a question about value or point of it all.

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So, can we see God?

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Yes! The straight answer would be yes! And that's the answer not only of Sri Ramakrishna to Swami Vivekananda, but the answer of all mystics! of all religions throughout all of known history or even prehistory, I would say.

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There have been mystics who have had access, who have claimed access, and I think with very good reason, to the ultimate nature of things.

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The theistic religions would say seeing God or having a God experience, whereas non theistic religions like Taoism or Buddhism would say an insight into the ultimate nature of things, you know, Bodhi, yes.

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So it is possible.

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And, uh, in this day and age, I think Vivekananda stressed it, that was a very crucial question, it's an empirical question, you see.

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He didn't go around asking people, Vivekananda, Narendra Nath, that late 19th century, Calcutta.

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He didn't go around asking teachers and religious preachers, do you believe in God, why should I believe in God, or does God exist?

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Not like that.

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His answer was much more straightforward.

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Can I see God?

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Have you seen God?

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Seen need not literally mean that these eyes, even that will do, but a genuine God experience which you would agree that yes, it is a God experience.

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So yes, there have been genuine mystical experiences all throughout history in all religions, and that, I think that should be taken seriously.

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Now, to qualify that.

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In Advaita Vedanta, to relate it to a question about how to have that in mundane life and everyday life, in extraordinary life and ordinary life.

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Let's take a deep dive into Advaita Vedanta.

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Advaita Vedanta would, um, ask us to refine our answer, because seeing God in itself, what does it mean?

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From an Advaitic perspective, yes, it is the same ultimate, if it's a genuine mystic experience of God, It's the same ultimate reality, Brahman, but with a particular name and form, um, particular conception, particular cultural filter, then only you say, I have had a God experience or I am seeing God, for example.

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Um, the bare truth in itself, Brahman as it is, is not something that you see or you would even want to see.

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It's, it's you.

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It's limitless being.

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So, it's not an object.

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That's why you cannot see it, hear it, smell it, taste it.

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We might say, yeah, yeah, I understand that, but at least we can conceive of it or grasp it with the mind or the intellect.

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Well, you cannot.

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It's supposed to be beyond all thought, beyond all conception, beyond all ideas, so therefore beyond mind and intellect.

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It is supposed to be beyond language, so language cannot refer to it directly, though we may use words, Brahman, Atman, the ultimate reality, whatever we use.

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It does not directly refer to it.

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So yes, from an Advaitic perspective then, God realization or God vision would mean the realization that I am that limitless existence.

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I am Brahman.

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And that is actually much more valuable.

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Then any kind of God experience, mystical experience, anything that comes and goes, once you realize you are Brahman, it's done.

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It can never go away.

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In fact, you realize you always were Brahman, whereas a mystical experience can come and go.

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The very fact that we are seeking mystical experiences immediately means that we are not having mystical experiences right now.

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So it is something that's going to start.

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And if you look at the lives of the mystics, they were extraordinarily life transforming, powerful experiences, but they are all Um, fleeting, they came and they went and probably the human nervous system cannot withstand that kind of an upsurge for a long period of time.

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Sri Ramakrishna would say that the highest samadhi if you go into it and you don't come out of it, then the body will last up to 21 days and the body will die.

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Um, now Advaita Vedanta will say this ultimate reality Brahman and the realization that I am Brahman is continuously available to us in mundane experience.

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Let me back up a little and talk about another thing that I find helpful.

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Three paradigms of spiritual life.

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There is a paradigm which is a faith based paradigm.

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In the US, religion is always faith.

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Faith means you believe in something, and that's all right, that's fine, because that has been the majority of spiritual approaches.

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I'm distinguishing spirituality from mass conventional religion, just to narrow it down to what we are talking about here.

00:15:28.594 --> 00:15:34.774
There also, there's a faith based approach, what is called bhakti in Indian traditions, devotion, love of God.

00:15:36.428 --> 00:15:38.599
And there we are taught that God exists.

00:15:38.629 --> 00:15:39.999
And how do we know?

00:15:40.719 --> 00:15:48.058
Because our tradition tells us, the holy books tell us, the enlightened masters tell us, on basis of belief.

00:15:48.558 --> 00:15:53.119
We might say we have good reasons to believe, that's good, but still it is belief.

00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:55.139
It's quite distinct from I know.

00:15:55.219 --> 00:15:57.129
I believe is always distinct from I know.

00:15:59.714 --> 00:16:11.124
Then, the problem with that, of course, is, as you mentioned, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett, and Richard Dawkins, and you don't need cutting edge atheists for that.

00:16:11.614 --> 00:16:16.323
Even the masses of people, including those who believe, will always have some kind of doubt about it.

00:16:16.744 --> 00:16:21.354
I mean, they may believe for cultural reasons, but they might not be willing to stake their lives on it.

00:16:22.288 --> 00:16:26.509
So, notice there is a difference between verbal faith and actual faith.

00:16:26.958 --> 00:16:34.068
Verbal faith is, I ascent, I belong to a doctrine, a church or something, and I ascribe to the belief system.

00:16:34.649 --> 00:16:36.708
But in my life it's not reflected all that much.

00:16:36.989 --> 00:16:38.538
I just go on being the same person.

00:16:38.918 --> 00:16:45.099
So I really, it's not like I believe, for example, there's going to be lunch at noon.

00:16:45.418 --> 00:16:49.739
If I really believe that, I'll go to the dining hall at room and wait for lunch.

00:16:51.349 --> 00:17:04.278
It's an actual belief and there you see that it's different from what most people say when we say we believe in God, they don't actually do anything about it in their daily lives except maybe go turn up for a religious talk or a festival or something.

00:17:05.189 --> 00:17:09.769
So it can be doubted, that's that's my point, this faith based spiritual paradigm.

00:17:11.749 --> 00:17:14.159
There comes the God experience, what you'd asked.

00:17:14.318 --> 00:17:15.348
Can I see God?

00:17:15.669 --> 00:17:16.858
Can I experience God?

00:17:17.469 --> 00:17:25.259
This is a primarily an empirical age where the hold of authority and belief, the hold has been loosened.

00:17:25.778 --> 00:17:33.348
So there are many, many people who either casually belong to a religion or just they're openly not religious.

00:17:34.328 --> 00:17:42.239
So empirical, we ask for empirical experience and evidence and there comes in all the mystical traditions.

00:17:42.239 --> 00:17:42.298
Thanks.

00:17:42.663 --> 00:17:58.443
Of all world religions, they all have these mystical traditions, not just because the holy books said so, not just because our religion teaches us or our culture teaches us, I've actually seen, and, or, at least I would like to see and I'm on the path to seeing.

00:17:58.844 --> 00:18:02.403
That is the mystical experience paradigm of God realization.

00:18:03.544 --> 00:18:09.183
Um, there, and that's why Vivekananda asked this and that's why it's so, so catchy today.

00:18:09.638 --> 00:18:20.439
Remember, when Vivekananda came to this country in the late 19th century, he, he pushed this particular way of spirituality, this empirical God experience way.

00:18:21.048 --> 00:18:24.269
And so he says, religion is realization.

00:18:24.318 --> 00:18:26.288
It's not believing in some doctrines.

00:18:28.219 --> 00:18:38.304
And it is no coincidence that the first book he translated and published here, and commented upon, is called, was Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

00:18:38.784 --> 00:18:42.953
The Raja Yoga, his classic book, Raja Yoga, published from, in fact, from right here from New York.

00:18:44.086 --> 00:19:08.520
There, the paradigm is, you sit in this way, asana, you control your breath, life forces in this way, pranayama, and of course on a basis of ethical practices, yama and niyama, and then you focus, withdraw your senses from the external world, turn inwards, Focus, that is dharana, and then that deepens into meditation, dhyana, and that will hopefully deepen into samadhi.

00:19:08.800 --> 00:19:12.891
And these samadhis are of various kinds, and they can give you extraordinary experiences.

00:19:12.891 --> 00:19:18.240
As Vivekananda says, if I have an immortal soul, I should be able to feel it.

00:19:18.550 --> 00:19:20.651
If God exists, I should be able to see God.

00:19:21.570 --> 00:19:31.101
And these mystical experiences, experienced through meditation, will give me proof that yes, I have seen God.

00:19:31.721 --> 00:19:33.050
Now, then there's a problem here.

00:19:33.820 --> 00:19:35.760
Um, I'm working my way back to your question.

00:19:35.770 --> 00:19:37.951
How do I experience God in my mundane life?

00:19:38.520 --> 00:19:39.431
But there's a problem here.

00:19:40.181 --> 00:19:42.421
These experiences are by definition extraordinary.

00:19:43.355 --> 00:19:49.836
They are rare, extremely rare, and by all accounts they are hard to get, and we can also be quite mistaken about it.

00:19:50.096 --> 00:20:05.246
There is a very genuine pathology of, uh, religion, um, so, always, the problem with these is they are all subject to doubt, just as, faith is subject to doubt, atheism and skepticism.

00:20:05.635 --> 00:20:07.155
Here you can have another kind of doubt.

00:20:07.496 --> 00:20:18.036
A neuroscientist might say to you, to the mystic, we don't doubt that you feel one with the universe or you have seen God as light or Krishna appear to you or whatever, but it's you.

00:20:18.326 --> 00:20:28.756
You've experienced it, but it's because you have a clot in your brain here or something which is pressing on certain areas and generating these feelings and experiences and we can demonstrate it.

00:20:28.756 --> 00:20:29.855
See, this is how it works.

00:20:30.905 --> 00:20:36.286
Um, or you're high on weed or some, uh, nowadays they're trying it.

00:20:36.385 --> 00:20:42.440
There's a new pharmacology and I hear they're getting good results for mental health, psilocybin and things like that.

00:20:44.230 --> 00:20:48.390
So you, these drugs have made you feel like that, but you are not experiencing God.

00:20:48.750 --> 00:20:51.400
You are not one with the universe, absolutely not.

00:20:52.630 --> 00:20:54.039
So that might be the objection.

00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.789
And you don't need a neuroscientist to do that or you don't need drugs.

00:20:58.140 --> 00:21:02.769
It could just be the general public always has been skeptical of mystics.

00:21:02.769 --> 00:21:11.539
Mystics if you look at the history of mysticism throughout the ages in every religion, often mystics were thought of as mad people, as crazy people.

00:21:12.049 --> 00:21:17.980
Sri Ramakrishna, there were any number of people around the Kali temple who thought he was crazy, he was off his mind.

00:21:18.865 --> 00:21:22.174
You know, having these visions and conversations with Kali and so on.

00:21:23.065 --> 00:21:28.164
Now, we have got two paradigms, the faith paradigm and the mystical experience paradigm.

00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:31.720
And, uh, I have shown that there are problems.

00:21:31.859 --> 00:21:32.849
There can be problems.

00:21:32.869 --> 00:21:33.240
It can.

00:21:33.630 --> 00:21:36.240
Remember, I am not saying that they are, uh, not true.

00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:37.289
They are definitely true.

00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:48.369
There is enough evidence in the history of world religions and the history, lives of saints in every religion to show that these have been a feature of spirituality throughout the ages.

00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:49.069
So, good.

00:21:49.190 --> 00:21:49.779
They are real.

00:21:50.410 --> 00:21:55.069
But now, in contrast, let me bring you to Advaita Vedanta, the, the knowledge paradigm.

00:21:56.059 --> 00:22:05.240
In contrast to the faith paradigm and the mystical experience paradigm, the knowledge paradigm is You don't have to believe in it, it's not a question of faith.

00:22:05.970 --> 00:22:09.880
You also don't need extraordinary mystical experiences to prove this.

00:22:10.900 --> 00:22:14.109
Rather, mundane experiences, as you just said.

00:22:14.470 --> 00:22:26.839
The remarkable claim of Advaita Vedanta is, all that you need for enlightenment is that the only experiences you need is, are you awake, do you dream, are you, do you sleep?

00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:29.000
Waking, dreaming, sleeping, who doesn't do that?

00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:30.579
Everybody does that, animals also do that.

00:22:31.079 --> 00:22:32.990
That's enough for Advaita to begin.

00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:43.140
Or if you just have the physical body and this apparatus, the physical body, the pranic body, the mind, the intellect, and beyond that the causal body.

00:22:43.849 --> 00:22:44.690
Everybody's got that.

00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:49.930
You don't need new experiences to, you know, detect that.

00:22:49.940 --> 00:22:51.190
It's available to everybody.

00:22:51.269 --> 00:22:52.809
That's enough to start the enquiry.

00:22:53.355 --> 00:22:59.194
It's an inquiry into ourselves, into our own experience, and we will be shown that we are Brahman.

00:23:00.384 --> 00:23:08.805
Now, the advantage of this is, it's not faith based, uh, it is not even calling on mystical experiences as evidence.

00:23:08.924 --> 00:23:12.384
It doesn't deny the importance of mystical experiences, but doesn't say that is evidence.

00:23:12.565 --> 00:23:26.160
None of the Upanishads, the Gita, um, or the, especially the Advaita Vedanta text, None of them say that, uh, this is true because such and such person, uh, you know, had a vision.

00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:27.539
No, this is true.

00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:28.849
You can understand why it is true.

00:23:28.859 --> 00:23:29.920
We'll show it to you, why it is true.

00:23:29.930 --> 00:23:32.430
Even intellectually, at least one can grasp it, it's not that difficult.

00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:37.619
That's why it is of special interest in this day and age.

00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:45.900
And to philosophers, um, uh, scientists, neuroscientists, it's of great, great interest.

00:23:46.634 --> 00:24:02.625
It's something, if we make that particular break, if we can get a grasp of Advaita Vedanta, even before Brahma Gyana, you begin to see that in extraordinary circumstances in life and in our ordinary circumstances, it's continuously present.

00:24:03.125 --> 00:24:04.265
It's always available.

00:24:04.265 --> 00:24:05.644
Our real niche is always available.

00:24:05.795 --> 00:24:06.394
It's you.

00:24:07.105 --> 00:24:09.535
Um, it's effortlessly present.

00:24:09.565 --> 00:24:10.644
It's timelessly present.

00:24:10.644 --> 00:24:12.055
It's instantaneously present.

00:24:13.234 --> 00:24:15.275
It's the most available of all things.

00:24:15.924 --> 00:24:18.565
It is what Vivekananda called The Open Secret.

00:24:18.569 --> 00:24:18.960
Mm-Hmm.

00:24:21.115 --> 00:24:21.714
Beautiful.

00:24:22.105 --> 00:24:22.674
I like that.

00:24:22.674 --> 00:24:26.606
The open secret, So Swami ji, whatever you said, it makes sense to me.

00:24:26.606 --> 00:24:39.416
I, I guess from the years of study, and there's a lot of people that do come across, Advaita Vedanta, maybe through YouTube videos or maybe podcasts like my own or any type of social media app.

00:24:39.807 --> 00:24:44.457
But we find that they tend to misinterpret Advaita Vedanta.

00:24:44.457 --> 00:24:57.836
Now, not that it's bad or anything, but a lot of people end up leaving non duality or deny the non dual experience and they go, back to a dualistic path again and why does that happen?

00:24:57.836 --> 00:25:12.777
And I see it happening a lot with those who encounter, like the direct path or the neo-advaita movement, but even some genuine people who follow Advaita Vedanta but end up denying the actual reality of what Advaita Vedanta brings.

00:25:13.886 --> 00:25:16.537
I find it all just about all those cases.

00:25:16.567 --> 00:25:20.211
They haven't grasped what ante is saying even in the direct path.

00:25:20.541 --> 00:25:25.192
The first problem is not grasping what has been said.

00:25:25.432 --> 00:25:27.442
If you really grasp it, you can't deny it anymore.

00:25:27.451 --> 00:25:28.051
It's impossible.

00:25:28.162 --> 00:25:29.852
You might as well deny your own existence.

00:25:30.461 --> 00:25:32.031
It's just impossible.

00:25:32.332 --> 00:25:39.471
I haven't found a single doubt which has not been answered, at least to my own satisfaction, with clarity.

00:25:40.041 --> 00:25:45.521
See, these doubts have been raised throughout the history of Advaita Vedanta, especially in the last 1, 200 years.

00:25:45.866 --> 00:25:57.557
In the history of Indian philosophy, so the dualistic schools have attacked and, uh, you know, um, uh, criticized, engaged in long running debates, scholarly debates with Advaita Vedanta.

00:25:57.557 --> 00:26:04.596
So these doubts have been raised again and again and answers have been, uh, given in intricate detail.

00:26:05.307 --> 00:26:08.436
So, yes, I always say bring it, bring it forth.

00:26:08.446 --> 00:26:09.757
What, what is your problem?

00:26:10.027 --> 00:26:12.517
Um, bring the questions out, ask.

00:26:13.406 --> 00:26:15.487
But usually it is something that they have not grasped.

00:26:16.047 --> 00:26:20.826
But this more serious problem is lack of preparation, lack of preparation.

00:26:21.257 --> 00:26:22.737
It's not the fault of Advaita Vedanta.

00:26:22.737 --> 00:26:28.207
Advaita Vedanta texts, the traditional texts, always make it clear that there is a high entry barrier.

00:26:29.567 --> 00:26:42.356
Um, so, it's like this, one monk put it this way, that a villager has gone in search of his, he sends somebody in search of his cow which has wandered off and apparently gone into the forest.

00:26:42.817 --> 00:26:44.846
He sends off the village simpleton after the cow.

00:26:45.606 --> 00:26:50.186
The thing is, this person who is searching for the cow, first of all, needs to know two, needs two things.

00:26:50.317 --> 00:26:53.386
One is, what is a cow?

00:26:54.267 --> 00:26:57.207
What is called in Sanskrit, Lakshana, that means the definition.

00:26:57.376 --> 00:26:58.586
What are we looking for exactly?

00:26:58.757 --> 00:27:00.977
Otherwise, even if he sees it, he will not recognize it.

00:27:02.906 --> 00:27:05.196
This is very subtle, and that's what's happening to us all the time.

00:27:05.957 --> 00:27:12.037
When we become enlightened, we'll see that we have always been seeing it, but we never really saw it.

00:27:13.156 --> 00:27:14.567
Didn't get it.

00:27:14.946 --> 00:27:16.797
We saw it, but we didn't recognize it.

00:27:18.406 --> 00:27:22.166
The second thing that this person needs is a desire to find the cow.

00:27:23.317 --> 00:27:26.557
Otherwise, an intense interest in finding the cow in the forest.

00:27:26.557 --> 00:27:31.067
Otherwise, this person is going to get lost in the forest and get distracted every now and then by something.

00:27:31.467 --> 00:27:34.436
You know, a pretty bird or a scary sound.

00:27:35.626 --> 00:27:38.396
And that's what happens to people in this path of non duality.

00:27:38.846 --> 00:27:41.846
First is, they don't grasp exactly what is being taught.

00:27:42.267 --> 00:27:44.576
I've seen that is common to all the critics.

00:27:45.297 --> 00:27:45.967
They don't get it.

00:27:47.257 --> 00:27:53.426
It's not easy to get, but if you stay with it for some time, it's not that difficult either, even to get it intellectually.

00:27:54.997 --> 00:27:59.527
And the second problem has been the lack of hunger or thirst to find it.

00:27:59.797 --> 00:28:01.267
That's because of the lack of preparation.

00:28:02.047 --> 00:28:09.872
The preparation is, The fourfold qualifications which every Vedanta teacher, traditional Vedanta teacher will tell you at the first class itself.

00:28:10.582 --> 00:28:15.051
Viveka, a discernment between the eternal and the non eternal.

00:28:15.382 --> 00:28:18.362
Between the, just call it that there is a spiritual reality.

00:28:18.872 --> 00:28:21.771
And this, where I am now and experiencing this, this is not it.

00:28:22.541 --> 00:28:24.791
This is it, but we'll come to that much later.

00:28:24.892 --> 00:28:27.142
But right now, you need to say this is not it.

00:28:27.511 --> 00:28:28.481
And I need to find that.

00:28:28.902 --> 00:28:33.771
Vairagya, a dispassion for our worldly projects, goals and entanglements.

00:28:35.981 --> 00:28:37.471
That is so important.

00:28:37.491 --> 00:28:39.211
It's important in the other traditions also.

00:28:39.332 --> 00:28:44.412
In the bhakti paradigm, in the yogic paradigm, it's, vairagya is important for all spirituality.

00:28:45.902 --> 00:28:48.201
is, we are a very worldly world today.

00:28:48.902 --> 00:28:54.997
People were always worldly, and that's why not many people have ever been genuinely spiritual in the history of humanity.

00:28:55.376 --> 00:29:13.686
Always a handful and right now we are even more so, much more worldly because there are so many distractions and so many avenues of being distracted and pulled this way and that way, lives have become busier, lives have become more competitive and so many problems.

00:29:14.281 --> 00:29:21.352
And therefore, and the disappearance of some traditions and, you know, some verities from our life.

00:29:21.692 --> 00:29:24.182
Society is in flux and fast changing.

00:29:24.951 --> 00:29:27.751
So preparation is lacking and this dispassion for worldliness.

00:29:27.991 --> 00:29:34.442
People don't know this or even if they know that to be spiritual you have to be less worldly or not worldly.

00:29:35.021 --> 00:29:37.372
This is not something people are willing to hear.

00:29:38.321 --> 00:29:39.412
We want it both.

00:29:40.971 --> 00:29:43.942
I really, really want to be a Wall Street millionaire.

00:29:44.406 --> 00:29:50.826
And a glamorous Hollywood movie star and also a great philosopher and a Vedanta master.

00:29:51.076 --> 00:29:51.757
Won't work.

00:29:52.162 --> 00:29:53.092
ha, ha.

00:29:53.106 --> 00:29:53.737
Won't work.

00:29:55.047 --> 00:29:57.707
You need to be one thing, a spiritual seeker.

00:29:58.207 --> 00:30:01.537
You could still be a Wall Street millionaire or you could be a homeless person.

00:30:01.896 --> 00:30:07.076
You could still be a, you know, a Hollywood superstar or a completely unknown person.

00:30:08.356 --> 00:30:13.376
What is the one thing which is necessary is But centrally we must be a spiritual seeker.

00:30:13.866 --> 00:30:15.877
That must be central to our concerns.

00:30:16.117 --> 00:30:19.953
All the others we must be willing to say that, that secondary doesn't really matter to me.

00:30:21.644 --> 00:30:22.503
That is vairagya.

00:30:22.644 --> 00:30:23.503
Then discipline.

00:30:23.584 --> 00:30:26.564
Again, that's something that people are not willing to cultivate.

00:30:27.054 --> 00:30:28.784
So a quietude of the mind.

00:30:28.844 --> 00:30:30.183
People are so restless today.

00:30:30.884 --> 00:30:32.513
A quietude of the mind called shama.

00:30:33.124 --> 00:30:35.544
Then a control of the senses, dhamma.

00:30:36.483 --> 00:30:42.324
Then, a spiritual toughness called Titiksha, the ability to put up with problems and not give up spiritual pursuit.

00:30:42.624 --> 00:30:49.193
How many problems we put up with when we are pursuing money, or pleasure, or, um, or raising a family.

00:30:49.453 --> 00:30:52.644
People put up with endless problems for decades and decades.

00:30:53.273 --> 00:30:55.743
So, spirituality is actually easier than that.

00:30:56.273 --> 00:31:00.223
You still have to work at it, but it's not as difficult as that, at least I think so.

00:31:00.963 --> 00:31:03.953
Um, then, there is Uparati.

00:31:04.709 --> 00:31:07.719
A withdrawal from too much worldly engagement.

00:31:08.558 --> 00:31:12.128
So, Manhattan, here you are, the city that never sleeps.

00:31:12.548 --> 00:31:20.558
And, uh, if five days a week you are working hard on Wall Street and the next two days, weekend, you're partying hard.

00:31:21.199 --> 00:31:25.179
There is no time, energy left over for spiritual pursuits.

00:31:25.179 --> 00:31:31.659
The uparati is a determined way of slowing down things and stepping back from the mad world.

00:31:31.848 --> 00:31:33.298
It is a pointless world, anyway.

00:31:34.048 --> 00:31:37.693
Then, um, samadhana., Samdhana is settling down.

00:31:37.933 --> 00:31:39.973
Focusing is an in.

00:31:40.213 --> 00:31:40.394
Now.

00:31:40.394 --> 00:31:46.953
You have cleared the deck for action with, um, discipline and quietude and toughness, spiritual toughness.

00:31:47.314 --> 00:31:53.713
Um, now you must focus on Vedanta, then shraddha, see the faith.

00:31:54.284 --> 00:31:55.304
There is truth here.

00:31:55.953 --> 00:31:57.544
It's not something I tried for some time.

00:31:57.544 --> 00:31:58.443
Oh, it doesn't work.

00:31:58.624 --> 00:31:59.523
Let me try the next thing.

00:31:59.673 --> 00:32:00.693
Nothing will work for you.

00:32:01.338 --> 00:32:02.608
Nothing will really work for you.

00:32:02.898 --> 00:32:07.699
The next thing you find, you find, oh, this is really nice, but then after some time you find it's not very fulfilling at all.

00:32:09.269 --> 00:32:14.298
Um, then, uh, there is mumukshutva, I mean intense desire for freedom.

00:32:14.479 --> 00:32:16.608
It's basically the desire to find the cow.

00:32:17.689 --> 00:32:20.729
All of this is basically desire to, and the discipline to find the cow.

00:32:21.919 --> 00:32:23.699
Vedanta can teach you what the cow is.

00:32:25.078 --> 00:32:31.558
Now, you learn to recognize it, but then there must be a desire to find it also, otherwise you keep missing it.

00:32:32.179 --> 00:32:41.308
I like that story Sri Ramakrishna used to tell of the washerman, who found a, a diamond, but he thought it was a rock, and he used it to scrub dirty laundry with.

00:32:41.818 --> 00:32:44.058
And it worked! You can scrub dirty laundry with a diamond.

00:32:44.689 --> 00:32:51.028
But he thought it was a strange kind of rock, and then he took it to his friend, the vegetable seller, who he thought was more learned than him.

00:32:51.378 --> 00:32:55.608
The vegetable seller said, yeah, this is a fancy rock, I'll give you ten rupees for it.

00:32:56.253 --> 00:33:04.233
Luckily he didn't sell it, finally he went from one person to another and finally came to a diamond merchant who said this is the most amazing diamond I've ever seen.

00:33:04.233 --> 00:33:06.084
I'll give you millions of rupees for it.

00:33:06.584 --> 00:33:08.903
And so the poor washerman, all his needs were fulfilled.

00:33:09.723 --> 00:33:13.163
Now, he always had the diamond, he didn't know what it was.

00:33:13.814 --> 00:33:17.223
And he was using it, but he was using it for scrubbing dirty laundry.

00:33:17.784 --> 00:33:21.354
It's real use is to take him beyond all suffering, all want.

00:33:21.564 --> 00:33:22.733
Similarly, we have it.

00:33:23.433 --> 00:33:23.973
We have it.

00:33:24.163 --> 00:33:24.983
We are Brahman.

00:33:24.993 --> 00:33:27.503
Right now we are engulfed in it.

00:33:27.513 --> 00:33:30.013
There's nothing but Brahman, but we don't see it.

00:33:30.804 --> 00:33:31.874
And we are using it.

00:33:32.334 --> 00:33:33.104
We are using it.

00:33:33.144 --> 00:33:35.844
We are using it to see, hear, smell, taste, touch.

00:33:36.223 --> 00:33:38.084
We are using it to think and imagine.

00:33:38.213 --> 00:33:41.013
We are using it to enjoy and suffer and be miserable.

00:33:41.423 --> 00:33:46.523
We are using it for our science, our religion, our spirituality, but we don't recognize it for what it is.

00:33:48.413 --> 00:33:49.334
Yeah, that's a good story.

00:33:49.334 --> 00:33:49.624
Hmm.

00:33:49.699 --> 00:33:50.148
Wow.

00:33:50.419 --> 00:33:50.729
Wow.

00:33:50.769 --> 00:33:51.898
That was very powerful.

00:33:52.338 --> 00:34:25.815
A lot of people, nowadays, the whole saying of being aware of being aware is like kind of talked about a lot and although you, yes, you do get a certain experience from that and I can, I can vouch for that, but, but there's the everlasting aspect of it, as you mentioned, the eternal aspect, the timeless aspect, I don't think that's talked about enough on the direct path, you, if you get what I mean, it's, it's more like, oh, you know, to sit now for the guided meditation and be aware of being aware.

00:34:26.206 --> 00:34:29.335
Um but Advaita Vedanta takes a lot deeper than that.

00:34:29.335 --> 00:34:29.585
Right.

00:34:29.585 --> 00:34:31.396
It's not just that statement.

00:34:31.396 --> 00:34:39.971
Advaita Vedanta, I would say, um, I'd put it this way, first we are guided into seeing that our real nature is awareness.

00:34:41.541 --> 00:34:45.610
Next, we are shown that this awareness is limitless.

00:34:46.490 --> 00:34:50.101
There's only one awareness, which is, uh, non dual.

00:34:50.130 --> 00:34:51.871
There's nothing else but awareness.

00:34:52.490 --> 00:34:54.791
And this awareness is not limited in time.

00:34:54.791 --> 00:34:56.041
It doesn't arise or disappear.

00:34:56.880 --> 00:34:59.641
And this awareness is not limited in space.

00:35:00.110 --> 00:35:02.501
All of space and time are in this awareness.

00:35:02.891 --> 00:35:07.530
Now when you have this limitless real nature, what problem now you are asked to see?

00:35:07.530 --> 00:35:08.260
What are the problems?

00:35:08.891 --> 00:35:10.170
Is there poverty?

00:35:10.331 --> 00:35:12.061
Is there frustration?

00:35:12.380 --> 00:35:14.820
Is there health problems?

00:35:15.460 --> 00:35:20.590
All of them are now part of, at the level of the body or the mind or society.

00:35:21.201 --> 00:35:24.251
You are something much vaster and much more real than all of that.

00:35:25.385 --> 00:35:31.076
So, you first of all see that you have a problem free nature, always available to you.

00:35:31.545 --> 00:35:37.806
Second, the personality still continues, the Rahul personality or the Sarvapriyananda still continues for the time being.

00:35:38.356 --> 00:35:39.885
So, you are now this enlightened person.

00:35:40.166 --> 00:35:42.436
You can come back, plunge back into the world.

00:35:42.860 --> 00:35:51.851
And, uh, help out with those problems in a much more calm, much more fearless, much more, uh, uh, serene and balanced way than you could earlier.

00:35:51.940 --> 00:35:57.971
One reason why, uh, I am, uh, earlier question, the dualistic paths, there is nothing wrong in going back to the dualistic paths.

00:35:58.391 --> 00:36:03.351
It could just be that people took a fancy to the non dual path because it sounded fancy.

00:36:04.260 --> 00:36:37.726
But maybe they are mentally cut out to be, you know, there is a psychological, uh, configuration each one of us has, and this has come, our real nature is pure consciousness, existence consciousness bliss for everybody, that's true all the time, and it's perfect, but the psychological nature, which each of us, it's different, just as our bodies are different, our minds and personalities are also different, and these have come over, we believe, over lifetimes of cultivation, Knowingly and unknowingly, mostly unknowingly, we have acquired many conditionings, vasanas and all, over time.

00:36:38.576 --> 00:36:47.856
And our spiritual capacities and possibilities are also part of this mental configuration or personality configuration.

00:36:48.746 --> 00:36:51.666
And it just might be that I am more cut out for a devotional path.

00:36:51.896 --> 00:36:53.286
That was the beauty of Sri Ramakrishna.

00:36:54.135 --> 00:36:56.655
Sri Ramakrishna said, actually all of them work.

00:36:57.376 --> 00:36:57.786
Hmm.

00:36:59.005 --> 00:37:00.186
You just have to look at the proof.

00:37:00.195 --> 00:37:02.775
For the proof, you have to see the history of religion.

00:37:03.275 --> 00:37:07.505
In dualistic traditions, in bhakti traditions, there have been great, great saints.

00:37:08.215 --> 00:37:09.865
And would you say that they are ignorant?

00:37:09.936 --> 00:37:12.036
Do they not have spiritual knowledge, Brahma Gyana?

00:37:12.306 --> 00:37:13.786
Yes, they have Brahma Gyana also.

00:37:14.025 --> 00:37:19.115
But their primary path of practice and expression was bhakti, love, ecstatic love of God.

00:37:19.755 --> 00:37:22.161
There have been people on yogic paths.

00:37:22.871 --> 00:37:34.641
Um, meditation, you know, whether it's patanjali yoga or tantric meditation, there are people, yogis who are meditated and meditated and come to a realization in their, inner life of the presence of the divine.

00:37:35.971 --> 00:37:38.760
And there have been people on the non-dual path Advaitic Path.

00:37:39.210 --> 00:37:42.510
And Sri Ramakrishna's is great insight was that they all work.

00:37:42.690 --> 00:37:45.690
In Bengali he said Jato Mat Tato Path as many.

00:37:46.920 --> 00:37:54.251
Faiths, as many, Mat literally means opinion, literal meaning of the Bengali, Mat, why just Bengali?

00:37:54.251 --> 00:37:56.161
Hindi, Bengali, even Sanskrit.

00:37:56.280 --> 00:38:01.210
It means opinion or philosophy or a particular way.

00:38:01.280 --> 00:38:05.451
As many philosophies, as many religions, faiths, so many ways.

00:38:06.550 --> 00:38:07.391
And these ways are different.

00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:11.170
Sri Ramakrishna doesn't lump them all together into a featureless unity.

00:38:11.271 --> 00:38:16.880
He says they are all amazingly different from each other, but they can all take you to enlightenment, to freedom.

00:38:18.851 --> 00:38:22.121
So, if somebody goes into a dualistic path, if that works for him, very good.

00:38:23.001 --> 00:38:27.751
Only one thing one should be careful about is, um, give it(Advaita Vedanta) a good try.

00:38:28.161 --> 00:38:36.001
And good try would actually mean a lifetime's commitment, but even if you cannot make a lifetime's commitment, do dive deep into it.

00:38:36.525 --> 00:38:43.465
And, discover its central teachings and try to see that it's real in your life.

00:38:43.815 --> 00:38:45.516
After that, see whether it's working or not.

00:38:46.106 --> 00:38:53.436
Um, we in our modern world are too impatient for even worldly success.

00:38:53.746 --> 00:38:56.766
So, the spiritual life, it demands commitment.

00:38:56.806 --> 00:39:01.795
Sri Ramakrishna, uh, he has this parable of the man who was digging for water.

00:39:02.501 --> 00:39:30.271
And he started digging in a particular place, and digging a well is hard, so after some time he got exhausted, and then somebody told him, why don't you dig there, it will be easier, so he went to the second place and dug there, and the third place, at the end of the day he had dug six shallow holes, by the time night came, and there was no water, but if he had kept digging at the first place, he might have found water, so just like that, we, in this internet age, we get everything.

00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:42.170
There is Advaita Vedanta, there is Dzogchen Buddhism and Mahamudra and Vipassana meditation and Krishna Bhakti and Christian and Sufi mysticism.

00:39:42.210 --> 00:39:49.675
Everything is on display and nice books have been written about it, teachers are giving talks about it and many of those teachers are genuine teachers.

00:39:49.786 --> 00:39:55.615
They are genuine members of ancient and well established lineages.

00:39:56.931 --> 00:40:02.820
What happens is the old saying of there are thousands of gurus, but a disciple is rare.

00:40:05.925 --> 00:40:06.746
That's very true.

00:40:06.996 --> 00:40:28.135
I've been recently seeing this phrase a lot that, the whole, like conceiving of fast food, it's like mcspirituality, uh, like everyone wants something fast, you know, a fast experience of enlightenment or, and actually it's the, as they say, the slow and steady wins the race really, um, but everyone wants that fast way

00:40:28.155 --> 00:40:28.246
Yes.

00:40:28.565 --> 00:40:35.360
Whatever it is, make up your mind in this way, I am now a spiritual seeker and I'm going to be a spiritual seeker.

00:40:36.090 --> 00:40:41.371
This is the highest thing that human civilization has ever found in any civilization across history.

00:40:42.231 --> 00:40:48.001
And, uh, this is the highest conception, the best kind of human life there can be.

00:40:48.840 --> 00:40:50.260
What else am I going to do?

00:40:51.201 --> 00:40:52.221
What else am I going to do?

00:40:52.391 --> 00:40:59.260
It's not like I'm going to, I'm in a hurry and let me get enlightenment and then I'll be back to, you know, I've got these other things on my to do list.

00:40:59.490 --> 00:41:03.201
Once I get the enlightenment thing done, I'll have to do all the other, no, there's nothing more you'll have to do.

00:41:03.981 --> 00:41:04.581
This is the end game.

00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:06.501
If you things to do, do them.

00:41:06.561 --> 00:41:07.481
Take your time, do them.

00:41:08.246 --> 00:41:14.326
Um, but this is something we'll have to take up and pursue till the end of this life and beyond.

00:41:16.686 --> 00:41:21.166
Aurobindo, Rishi Aurobindo said, I like, I love that saying, life itself is yoga.

00:41:21.735 --> 00:41:26.905
If you consciously practice spirituality, then you say, I'm a yogi, I'm a spiritual seeker.

00:41:27.295 --> 00:41:31.835
If you say, I don't believe in any of that stuff, um, I'm not interested in religion spiritually at all.

00:41:31.865 --> 00:41:32.706
Please leave me alone.

00:41:33.115 --> 00:41:34.186
I'm just living my life.

00:41:34.635 --> 00:41:36.405
That living your life is also yoga.

00:41:36.610 --> 00:41:43.170
It will teach you, it will take you slowly over time and a spiritual questions and a quest will arise.

00:41:43.646 --> 00:41:44.815
This lifetime or next.

00:41:45.356 --> 00:41:49.985
If you float along, you will still reach the goal, but it might take a long time and plenty of suffering.

00:41:51.115 --> 00:41:53.626
And if you do it deliberately, consciously, it's much faster.

00:41:55.791 --> 00:41:56.360
Thank you.

00:41:56.670 --> 00:41:57.331
Swami ji.

00:41:57.445 --> 00:42:04.315
Nowadays, as I mentioned, you know, there's a lot of gurus and they're on YouTube and people subscribe to them.

00:42:04.525 --> 00:42:09.570
Uh, a lot of seekers subscribe to them on YouTube, , or on any social media platform.

00:42:10.050 --> 00:42:12.990
And some even want to end up changing lineages.

00:42:12.990 --> 00:42:16.170
So they may be part of a lineage, and then they want to change the lineage.

00:42:16.541 --> 00:42:22.025
What advice can be offered to them, especially if they haven't fully understood the lineage they're part of.

00:42:23.110 --> 00:42:26.141
Um, you know, should they still swap or should they still,

00:42:26.181 --> 00:42:31.471
They can, because it's not that in ancient times people did not change lineages.

00:42:31.490 --> 00:42:32.101
People did.

00:42:32.451 --> 00:42:43.686
If you find a genuinely inspiring and great spiritual master, or a text or a teaching which is, really works for you, you know, makes you, inspires you in spiritual life, you can follow that.

00:42:44.525 --> 00:42:56.096
Um, in our tradition, starting with Sri Ramakrishna, Maa Sarada and others, if they heard that a person was following a particular path, they didn't try to change that person.

00:42:56.190 --> 00:43:08.880
The whole, our whole approach is to encourage, because that's a true path, so encourage the person, do, what is really required is you need to add more sincerity and more, make it your prime goal in life and pursue it.

00:43:10.081 --> 00:43:17.460
If those persons still insisted that no, we want to come to you, or come to Advaita Vedanta or something, then we say alright, you can come.

00:43:17.945 --> 00:43:18.916
And take it up.

00:43:18.916 --> 00:43:29.806
And here also, the prerequisite is that you really have to apply yourself to it and make that, main thing is to make this your goal, not the world.

00:43:29.846 --> 00:43:30.346
That is crucial.

00:43:30.346 --> 00:43:38.635
Vivekananda said, and this is a teaching which is crucial and ignored in today's world because it's not stylish to talk about renunciation.

00:43:38.635 --> 00:43:40.646
By renunciation I don't mean becoming a monk.

00:43:41.096 --> 00:43:42.976
I mean renouncing from the mind.

00:43:43.905 --> 00:43:55.996
So being, giving up worldly pursuits, which is worldly pursuit of pleasure and power and wealth, you will still have pleasure and power and wealth, but that is not your goal anymore.

00:43:56.610 --> 00:43:56.971
mm

00:43:57.065 --> 00:44:02.076
If you are a householder, if you hold a job and you have a family, you will be in the midst of the world.

00:44:02.536 --> 00:44:12.545
So you do once in a while get your favorite cookie or you do earn money and go to see a movie, all that's secondary and by the way, but that should not be the goal or purpose of life.

00:44:13.315 --> 00:44:17.974
The goal or purpose of life should be God realization and we should be up and pursuing it.

00:44:17.976 --> 00:44:22.380
Vivekananda said, All the yogas.

00:44:22.681 --> 00:44:24.690
This is the turning point in all the yogas.

00:44:25.021 --> 00:44:27.300
Your conventional religion becomes spirituality.

00:44:27.300 --> 00:44:28.771
When this turning point happens.

00:44:28.891 --> 00:44:29.911
What is that turning point?

00:44:30.090 --> 00:44:30.840
Renunciation.

00:44:31.420 --> 00:44:42.630
In karma yoga, um, the karma yogi renounces all selfish projects, all selfish codes and practices selflessness, unselfishness.

00:44:42.931 --> 00:44:44.010
So that's the renunciation.

00:44:44.130 --> 00:44:45.811
It's a huge, huge renunciation.

00:44:46.110 --> 00:44:51.681
The whole thing about I, me, mine, I must, I'm the one who must be rich.

00:44:52.126 --> 00:44:54.255
And these gadgets should be mine.

00:44:54.326 --> 00:44:55.896
These people should be mine.

00:44:56.126 --> 00:45:00.806
These honors and, you know, social media likes should be mine.

00:45:00.945 --> 00:45:05.076
This I, me, mine, it's the fundamental, even spiritual development.

00:45:06.065 --> 00:45:14.965
My knowledge, my ideas in spirituality, even my guru, one of our Swamis used to joke, the my becomes very big and the guru becomes very small.

00:45:15.255 --> 00:45:16.315
My guru.

00:45:17.505 --> 00:45:19.615
That whole thing has to be thrown overboard.

00:45:20.106 --> 00:45:21.576
Not I.

00:45:22.885 --> 00:45:30.510
So, for the of others, for the good of others, that's a great renunciation and then it becomes Karma Yoga.

00:45:31.331 --> 00:45:37.161
In Raja Yoga, the way of meditation, the renunciation is of all experience altogether.

00:45:38.490 --> 00:45:40.521
Eyes want to see, ears want to hear.

00:45:40.740 --> 00:45:43.911
No, I'm not interested in anything the world has to show.

00:45:44.021 --> 00:45:45.990
I'm not interested in anything the world has to say.

00:45:46.331 --> 00:45:58.570
Or smell, or taste, or touch, or think, or remember, or ponder over, or brood over, or desire, all of that I push aside for one focused meditation, then it becomes Raja Yoga.

00:45:58.981 --> 00:46:00.130
So the renunciation.

00:46:00.681 --> 00:46:08.041
Bhakti Yoga, is when we take our hundred or thousand different desires, this I want, I want, I want, I want the world.

00:46:08.710 --> 00:46:12.920
The whole range of things in the world, flows in a thousand different channels to the world.

00:46:13.300 --> 00:46:15.041
We remove the world and put God there.

00:46:16.101 --> 00:46:20.510
The same I want becomes, I want God, I love God.

00:46:20.751 --> 00:46:22.340
Then it becomes Bhakti Yoga.

00:46:22.561 --> 00:46:27.030
Again renunciation, renunciation of all our worldly desires, from the mind.

00:46:28.021 --> 00:46:34.070
As far as possible, all of these spectrums, it can't be done all of a sudden, but one must try to do it more and more.

00:46:34.280 --> 00:46:36.681
And the non dual path, that's why it's the most difficult.

00:46:37.271 --> 00:46:42.650
Because you are literally renouncing the whole world, body, mind, you're saying the whole thing is an appearance.

00:46:44.570 --> 00:46:48.590
So, would one say that even lineages are an appearance in that sense?

00:46:48.590 --> 00:46:52.400
If one says it's my lineage, or you, it gets very proud about it.

00:46:52.851 --> 00:46:53.931
That's selfishness.

00:46:54.391 --> 00:46:55.800
That's the I, the ego.

00:46:56.501 --> 00:46:59.460
So, spirituality can always feed the selfishness.

00:46:59.630 --> 00:47:01.670
I am superior to you because I'm a non dualist.

00:47:01.681 --> 00:47:07.251
You, this dualistic religions, um, I can say, these are for dumb people.

00:47:07.431 --> 00:47:16.791
These are only people who cannot get the great non duality, for them the dumb, um, uh, devotional religions, your silly belief in God and all of that.

00:47:17.490 --> 00:47:26.346
Um, but, as Vivekananda said, you know, one ounce of practice is worth more than 20 tons of tall talk.

00:47:26.766 --> 00:47:27.835
mm.

00:47:28.436 --> 00:47:33.556
As somebody said, you can talk tall about being limitless consciousness, but you're still the same dude.

00:47:33.596 --> 00:47:35.246
We all think you're same guy.

00:47:36.496 --> 00:47:42.306
It, there should be, that's why Vivekananda's definition of religion is so simple, but so much to the point.

00:47:42.885 --> 00:47:45.235
Manifestation of the divinity already within us.

00:47:46.335 --> 00:47:50.585
He didn't say knowledge of the divinity already within us, insight into the divinity already within us.

00:47:50.865 --> 00:47:52.045
I know I am Brahman.

00:47:52.166 --> 00:47:54.456
That's the classical way of putting it in Advaita Vedanta.

00:47:54.731 --> 00:47:59.601
But the direct path or the classical Advaita Vedanta would say, you know that you are Brahman, that's spirituality.

00:47:59.940 --> 00:48:02.240
He says no, it's already there, it's true.

00:48:02.351 --> 00:48:05.251
What Advaita Vedanta says, direct path says, all of it is true.

00:48:06.001 --> 00:48:08.721
But he crucially uses the word manifestation.

00:48:09.130 --> 00:48:14.311
It must be reflected in my thought, in my language and my deeds in the world.

00:48:14.561 --> 00:48:16.880
How I deal with the world and my life.

00:48:17.760 --> 00:48:20.351
If I can't do that, there's something wrong.

00:48:20.561 --> 00:48:22.891
If I can't, like the Americans say, walk the talk.

00:48:24.291 --> 00:48:30.291
So, um, if I can't do that, I'm missing some crucial aspect somewhere.

00:48:30.740 --> 00:48:31.960
It's not becoming real.

00:48:32.351 --> 00:48:37.820
All those ones we admired in the great non dual masters, look, they walked the talk.

00:48:39.021 --> 00:48:45.481
They dealt with disease and pain and, um, dishonor and difficult people.

00:48:47.615 --> 00:48:53.335
absolute evenness of mind, showing that they were centered in something transcending all these problems.

00:48:53.726 --> 00:49:00.016
They had absolutely no worldly goals or projects, except maybe in some cases, helping others, but no personal goal.

00:49:00.786 --> 00:49:03.396
Another crucial thing, going beyond complaining.

00:49:04.186 --> 00:49:08.806
That's a good way of judging how far I'm going in spiritual life.

00:49:09.746 --> 00:49:13.036
I always say, if you are enlightened, you've given up the right to grumble.

00:49:13.536 --> 00:49:14.795
can't grumble about anything.

00:49:17.096 --> 00:49:24.701
That's very true, Swamiji, one thing I've read in quite a few texts, they talk about how the Guru and God is one.

00:49:24.721 --> 00:49:29.878
So the manifest and the unmanifest, shall we say, how are they the one and the same?

00:49:30.407 --> 00:49:35.347
And how do we approach that spiritually speaking, like in terms of a path, the devotional path?

00:49:35.867 --> 00:49:43.333
Remember the ultimate reality in Advaita Vedanta - Brahman is God and Guru and the world.

00:49:43.492 --> 00:49:46.733
All of it is nothing but the manifestation of the ultimate reality.

00:49:47.012 --> 00:49:51.293
But that ultimate reality, when we, it becomes a sentient being who appears as us.

00:49:51.452 --> 00:49:52.262
It appears as us.

00:49:52.643 --> 00:49:59.733
We are that ultimate reality, but right now we are appearing and experiencing it ourselves in the world as individual sentient beings.

00:50:00.063 --> 00:50:05.103
In that case, that ultimate reality, Brahman, now becomes the God of religion for us.

00:50:05.313 --> 00:50:07.603
You see how dualism makes sense.

00:50:08.623 --> 00:50:13.802
It's the same, Advaita, you know, signs off on this, agrees to it, it's absolutely, it's fine.

00:50:15.353 --> 00:50:20.023
Dualism will say, there is God, there is the world, and you are there, and that's it, there's nothing more to be done.

00:50:20.023 --> 00:50:26.182
Whereas Advaita would say, yes, we agree completely, there is God, and there is the world, and there you are.

00:50:26.393 --> 00:50:32.822
But if we investigate more deeply, you are this limitless existence, consciousness, bliss, appearing as the world, God, and you.

00:50:33.958 --> 00:50:42.427
Now this knowledge comes to us when we are spiritual seekers through, through the Guru, it comes through the Guru.

00:50:42.547 --> 00:50:46.385
It really comes from God, that is the belief in traditional Advaita Vedanta.

00:50:46.385 --> 00:50:50.728
Sri Ramakrishna also would say, all the different Gurus, you know what it is like.

00:50:51.307 --> 00:50:57.097
Um, on the roofs of houses, this is old colonial architecture in Calcutta.

00:50:57.248 --> 00:50:58.597
The British were there at that time.

00:50:59.148 --> 00:51:10.878
So these colonial houses had water spigots up there, you know, with through the rain water would drain out from the roof and they would always be in the form of lions and gargoyles and things like that, so grotesque figures.

00:51:10.878 --> 00:51:17.367
And so you see the water coming out of the mouth of all of these figures on the, uh, roof of the house.

00:51:18.222 --> 00:51:19.512
They're all coming from the same roof.

00:51:20.282 --> 00:51:22.822
The source of the water is the same rain water, which is coming.

00:51:23.242 --> 00:51:29.682
Similarly, you see the teachings coming from multiple gurus, but it all, the source of the spiritual knowledge is the same.

00:51:29.853 --> 00:51:31.202
It comes from Satchitananda.

00:51:32.253 --> 00:51:36.682
Therefore, and also because Vedanta is a knowledge system.

00:51:37.322 --> 00:51:42.402
It's not really a faith system or, you know, authority based in that sense.

00:51:42.492 --> 00:51:44.643
I mean, there are finer points to be understood here.

00:51:44.652 --> 00:51:45.773
It's a knowledge system.

00:51:46.123 --> 00:51:48.172
So in a knowledge system, the teacher is very important.

00:51:49.023 --> 00:51:50.112
The text is important.

00:51:50.137 --> 00:51:51.097
The teacher is important.

00:51:51.507 --> 00:51:54.628
That's why the Vedas are revered so much, and the guru is revered so much.

00:51:55.577 --> 00:52:05.913
So yes, there's a verse which we chang before studying Vedanta, Isvaro guruatmeti murtibedha vibhagine vyomavad vyaptadehaya daksinamurtaye namah.

00:52:06.498 --> 00:52:14.788
So salutations to Shiva in the form Dakshinamurti the form of teaching who gives us spiritual knowledge.

00:52:16.096 --> 00:52:23.061
in the same one, the Shiva, the Dakshinamurti Shiva appears as God of the universe.

00:52:24.460 --> 00:52:27.831
So the Dakshinamurti Shiva is actually the Ultimate, the Absolute.

00:52:27.891 --> 00:52:30.101
It appears as Eshwar, God of the universe.

00:52:30.411 --> 00:52:31.981
Guru, my teacher.

00:52:32.940 --> 00:52:36.990
And Atma, me the self, the empirical self, the transactional self.

00:52:36.990 --> 00:52:37.751
All three of us.

00:52:38.210 --> 00:52:43.150
But all three of us are the non different absolute reality.

00:52:43.550 --> 00:52:44.291
What's that like?

00:52:44.300 --> 00:52:46.150
Vyoma Vad Vyapta Deha Haya.

00:52:46.391 --> 00:52:48.891
The body of that absolute reality is like sky.

00:52:50.195 --> 00:52:52.905
Which includes everything, in which it gives space to everything.

00:52:52.916 --> 00:52:56.065
It's basically limitless being or limitless consciousness.

00:52:57.346 --> 00:53:02.476
Since that same reality is God and that same reality is Guru, that's why there's so much reverence is there.

00:53:04.476 --> 00:53:19.407
Swami ji one question I have had is, and I get asked this a lot as well, like from people who listen to the podcast, how can they become open to grace and how can they utilize it completely, in its totality?

00:53:19.827 --> 00:53:24.853
I'll give you two answers or two points.

00:53:25.208 --> 00:53:27.057
One of them is from the Upanishads themselves.

00:53:27.887 --> 00:53:31.358
It gives a very interesting interpretation of grace, insight into grace.

00:53:31.797 --> 00:53:36.788
It says, who will realize the Self, who will become enlightened, who will realize the Self with a capital S?

00:53:36.838 --> 00:53:42.398
And the answer is, Whomsoever that Self chooses, to, to that one it reveals Itself.

00:53:43.237 --> 00:53:46.918
To whomsoever the Ultimate Reality chooses, to that one it reveals Itself.

00:53:48.387 --> 00:53:50.277
Now the question arises, whom will it choose?

00:53:51.358 --> 00:53:56.318
And Shankara's, the commentators, Shankaracharya's answer there is, uh, is beautiful.

00:53:56.358 --> 00:53:59.498
He says, so whom will the Ultimate Reality choose?

00:53:59.782 --> 00:54:01.233
Who will get self realization?

00:54:01.452 --> 00:54:02.273
Whom will it choose?

00:54:02.702 --> 00:54:04.862
It chooses that one who chooses It.

00:54:06.833 --> 00:54:09.563
Ah, so that's a beautiful answer.

00:54:09.913 --> 00:54:12.103
What do we need to do to open ourselves to grace?

00:54:12.293 --> 00:54:13.603
We need to choose it.

00:54:14.193 --> 00:54:21.492
We need, depending on your path, if you're a worshipper of Krishna, you need to choose Krishna, all the time, every time, in every occasion, over everything else.

00:54:22.432 --> 00:54:29.213
Over the world, over relatives, over wealth, over power, over even the self, this body, this little life.

00:54:29.262 --> 00:54:30.532
Always Krishna, nothing else.

00:54:30.862 --> 00:54:32.612
That's a devotee's approach.

00:54:33.523 --> 00:54:38.902
The non dualist approach would be you choose that Underlying Reality which is obviously present everywhere.

00:54:38.922 --> 00:54:43.253
Don't get, keep getting distracted by the name and form of this universe.

00:54:43.733 --> 00:54:45.393
You keep choosing It, It will choose you.

00:54:45.483 --> 00:54:47.813
It will become, it will reveal Itself to you.

00:54:48.563 --> 00:54:51.963
The second point I wanted to raise about grace is Sri Ramakrishna.

00:54:52.393 --> 00:54:55.342
He said the wind of grace is always blowing.

00:54:55.742 --> 00:54:56.943
Raise your sail.

00:54:57.302 --> 00:55:02.623
So remember he lived near the Ganga river and he would see these little boats floating along merrily on the river.

00:55:03.313 --> 00:55:06.353
Some of them would raise a sail, a small cloth sail, even now they do that.

00:55:07.273 --> 00:55:12.063
And then when you raise the sail you see it catches the wind and it goes much faster than the other boats.

00:55:13.112 --> 00:55:15.052
But the wind was already there, it was always blowing.

00:55:15.632 --> 00:55:17.103
You just need to raise your sail.

00:55:17.643 --> 00:55:18.543
What is raising the sail?

00:55:19.233 --> 00:55:20.849
So raising the sail is our effort.

00:55:21.599 --> 00:55:24.918
It's our effort to to be worthy of grace.

00:55:25.728 --> 00:55:27.679
Try to put forth as much effort as you can.

00:55:28.789 --> 00:55:32.449
People say all these, all that you need is to want God to choose God.

00:55:32.829 --> 00:55:35.949
But then we say honestly when, look into it, into our hearts.

00:55:36.798 --> 00:55:38.778
We are a bundle, a mixture.

00:55:38.778 --> 00:55:44.659
We have many worldly greed and lust and you know, anger, negativities of the world.

00:55:45.173 --> 00:55:50.054
Plus, it is not untrue that we really want God in some way, but at least we want God.

00:55:50.574 --> 00:56:01.193
Or, um, the way I would put it is, ask yourself the question, even if I don't genuinely want God intensely, do I want to want?

00:56:04.561 --> 00:56:08.333
Like drugs, do I want, I don't want drugs, but do I want to want drugs?

00:56:08.333 --> 00:56:08.804
No.

00:56:09.474 --> 00:56:13.094
Do I want to want, um, you know, alcohol and become an alcoholic?

00:56:13.094 --> 00:56:13.543
No.

00:56:14.034 --> 00:56:15.713
But do I want to want God?

00:56:16.594 --> 00:56:17.693
Yes, I would love that.

00:56:18.193 --> 00:56:19.943
I wish I could have more and more devotion.

00:56:20.204 --> 00:56:24.344
I wish I could have, uh, the intense seeking of that reality.

00:56:25.614 --> 00:56:27.643
So if I want to want that, that's good enough.

00:56:29.333 --> 00:56:32.173
That'll keep you on the path and open up grace for you.

00:56:32.751 --> 00:56:37.492
The next question, you know, some texts really highlight that one should be a sanyasi, right?

00:56:37.501 --> 00:56:45.032
In some sense, a renunciant, but someone like me, you know, I have a kid, a wife, I have a home to look after and everything.

00:56:45.342 --> 00:57:03.753
, But for someone like me as a householder, when we read texts like that, which talk about the prerequisite being a sanyasi or a monk or whatever, how can we still approach those texts with the same level of intensity as a monk and not get carried away with what the texts have said as a pre-requisite

00:57:04.474 --> 00:57:04.594
right.

00:57:04.594 --> 00:57:06.574
Right, but just take away the inner teaching.

00:57:07.003 --> 00:57:10.889
A monk is, a genuine monk is a genuine monk internally.

00:57:12.329 --> 00:57:18.418
Externally, when you put on this dress and you give up worldly connections and you become part of a monastic order, so you are formally a monk.

00:57:18.798 --> 00:57:22.378
But what is the most important is the internal monk like attitude.

00:57:23.059 --> 00:57:24.248
That is compulsory.

00:57:24.748 --> 00:57:32.668
Every spiritual seeker in the world, whoever they are, wherever they have been, in families, in wealth, in power, they have been internally monk like.

00:57:32.789 --> 00:57:35.539
So, that is what you take away from such texts.

00:57:36.333 --> 00:57:37.034
The teachings.

00:57:37.414 --> 00:57:46.494
In my own circumstances, what can I learn from that monk's attitude, the way they lived life and saw things, apply it in my life.

00:57:47.074 --> 00:57:48.784
Common sense, always use common sense.

00:57:49.713 --> 00:57:58.403
That's why, you see, texts like the Bhagavad Gita, for example, now you see it clearly meant for people in the midst of action.

00:57:58.753 --> 00:58:00.873
It's preached, taught in a battlefield.

00:58:01.634 --> 00:58:05.034
It's taught by Krishna, who was not a monk, he was a householder.

00:58:05.623 --> 00:58:07.943
It's taught to Arjuna, who was a prince and a householder.

00:58:08.759 --> 00:58:18.967
And it was not taught in an ashram, nor in a podcast was in the middle of the battlefield, the worst possible action that human beings can engage in.

00:58:19.148 --> 00:58:29.994
So if the claim is, you can be spiritual in the middle of the battlefield then the rest of us, no matter how busy we are, how much of a family person we are, uh, we can be spiritual.

00:58:30.974 --> 00:58:35.543
Imagine people like Mahatma Gandhi is a deeply spiritual man.

00:58:36.668 --> 00:58:39.143
I, I have repeated this ad nauseum.

00:58:39.143 --> 00:58:42.233
I think, uh, that when he says, who am I?

00:58:42.233 --> 00:58:45.804
When people ask me who I am, people sometimes think I'm a politician.

00:58:45.804 --> 00:58:46.824
I'm a freedom fighter.

00:58:46.824 --> 00:58:48.623
I'm a social reformer, which all he was.

00:58:49.233 --> 00:58:53.563
But if you ask me, he says, I'll say I'm a simple man in search of God.

00:58:54.764 --> 00:59:01.193
And that's so direct, such a simple, sublime truth about himself.

00:59:01.914 --> 00:59:04.423
He sees himself as a simple man in search of God.

00:59:04.653 --> 00:59:07.333
And he sees himself as that in whatever he does.

00:59:08.514 --> 00:59:26.494
In his family, in his profession, um, and in his social activism, in his politics, everywhere, if you ask him, and as well as in his study and prayer and, um, uh, silence, and all the time if you ask him, what is he, what's he doing?

00:59:26.503 --> 00:59:28.443
He says, I'm a simple man in search of God.

00:59:30.150 --> 00:59:32.971
We all can be that, whether you're a monk or a householder.

00:59:33.233 --> 00:59:37.773
Bhagavad Gita is pre eminently a text which can be applied in the midst of the busiest of lives.

00:59:40.978 --> 00:59:44.739
Beautiful, Swamiji, a lot of people, they ask you a lot of questions.

00:59:44.739 --> 00:59:50.929
You've been on numerous podcasts and, you've also, you have the famous Ask Swami, uh, series.

00:59:51.099 --> 01:00:02.704
What's the one question that you feel hasn't been asked yet, um, that you wish, you know, sometimes you wish someone will ask this one question or make one statement.

01:00:03.184 --> 01:00:04.304
Has there been anything like that?

01:00:04.304 --> 01:00:06.954
Or do you feel everything's been covered more or less?

01:00:08.244 --> 01:00:09.384
That is a difficult one.

01:00:09.813 --> 01:00:18.648
People have asked many many good questions and over the years, when they listen to these non dual teachings, especially Advaita Vedanta, The audience also gets shaped.

01:00:18.789 --> 01:00:30.699
People who like this message, they listen more and more, and they begin to understand more and more, and the questions also become refined and more pertinent, sharper, more sophisticated and deeper.

01:00:32.998 --> 01:00:34.889
Yes, what is the one?

01:00:35.338 --> 01:00:37.148
I think the most general question of all.

01:00:37.889 --> 01:00:38.778
What's the way?

01:00:40.309 --> 01:00:41.059
What's the way?

01:00:41.509 --> 01:00:42.179
What can we do?

01:00:42.798 --> 01:00:46.039
Uh, that's a very beautiful question.

01:00:46.509 --> 01:00:50.429
Because the vast majority of humanity do not ask that question.

01:00:52.199 --> 01:00:57.268
So they are not genuinely interested in enlightenment, God realization or spirituality.

01:00:57.789 --> 01:00:59.793
What they are genuinely interested in is the world.

01:01:01.063 --> 01:01:24.125
As long as religion can help them in the world, they're good, fine with it, but what about enlightenment, knowledge that I am Brahman, or whatever you call it, God, the vision of God, Um, either I don't believe in any of it, or I'm not interested, or it's fascinating, but not for me, certainly not something that I want to devote time and energy to, but if you ask this question, what's the way, how do I become enlightened?

01:01:24.125 --> 01:01:24.644
You're blessed.

01:01:24.909 --> 01:01:25.699
You're already blessed.

01:01:26.639 --> 01:01:32.820
And the answer to that is all of what we have been talking about, you know, meditation and devotion and non duality.

01:01:33.440 --> 01:01:34.579
All of these and more.

01:01:35.969 --> 01:01:47.030
This one way of looking at the Vedas, one swami, one writer says that it's like a, loving mother who is eager to help her helpless children, you know.

01:01:47.960 --> 01:01:50.610
We just need to ask, what do I do?

01:01:51.250 --> 01:01:52.329
It's not working for me.

01:01:52.369 --> 01:01:53.530
Life is not working for me.

01:01:54.469 --> 01:01:58.360
And either I'm in trouble or I'm not in trouble, but I'm interested.

01:01:58.969 --> 01:02:00.440
Um, I'm an inquirer.

01:02:01.170 --> 01:02:04.000
In Sanskrit it's called Jigyasa, the desire to know.

01:02:06.250 --> 01:02:07.519
Ask that question, what do I do?

01:02:08.489 --> 01:02:08.860
Beautiful.

01:02:09.059 --> 01:02:14.820
Swami ji I know a few friends, they, they're on the spiritual path, this will be the last question that I'll ask.

01:02:14.885 --> 01:02:15.715
you know, of time.

01:02:17.105 --> 01:02:26.255
They feel like their vasanas, you know, that construct that they have overwhelms their desire for spiritual enlightenment.

01:02:26.255 --> 01:02:28.894
And they often ask, you know, how can I get out of this?

01:02:28.894 --> 01:02:30.335
How can I get out of this mess?

01:02:30.804 --> 01:02:34.485
Um, you know, why is my mind still playing up?

01:02:35.255 --> 01:02:38.155
What message can you give to them that can help them?

01:02:38.155 --> 01:02:40.664
What methods can help them to get out of out of

01:02:41.344 --> 01:02:44.264
First is, uh, Viveka, discernment.

01:02:44.755 --> 01:02:48.155
Dwell on it, that all these desires.

01:02:48.960 --> 01:02:52.369
Either I will fulfill them, or I will not.

01:02:53.000 --> 01:02:56.010
If I fulfill them, the result will be dissatisfaction.

01:02:56.070 --> 01:02:57.389
It always has been.

01:02:58.289 --> 01:03:07.079
The richest of people, the, you know, multi billionaires are spending as much money as they want, or whatever they want, they still have not been fulfilled.

01:03:07.260 --> 01:03:10.070
Nobody claims that it's, I'm done now, it's great.

01:03:11.295 --> 01:03:17.934
Uh, I like Somerset Maugham's, uh, there's a nice, there's a nice quote from him.

01:03:18.144 --> 01:03:24.315
He says, if you single mindedly chase pleasure, very soon you will find nothing pleasing anymore.

01:03:25.105 --> 01:03:28.744
So trying to fulfill desires, let's learn from it.

01:03:29.514 --> 01:03:30.514
It didn't work.

01:03:30.934 --> 01:03:31.764
It didn't work.

01:03:32.005 --> 01:03:34.514
You say, yeah, but I know that, but I can't still stop myself.

01:03:34.655 --> 01:03:35.974
All right, but take it slow.

01:03:36.574 --> 01:03:39.284
It's good to consciously bring it to the fore of our mind.

01:03:39.425 --> 01:03:40.255
It's not working.

01:03:41.204 --> 01:03:43.255
I am doing it because of habit.

01:03:44.085 --> 01:03:50.934
I am doing it because of compulsion, but not if I had my way, if my intellect had its way, I would stop doing these things.

01:03:51.715 --> 01:03:58.635
So that's a big step ahead, because there are many, many who would justify running down that path.

01:03:59.255 --> 01:04:01.824
They really, genuinely think this is what's going to make us happy.

01:04:01.994 --> 01:04:06.045
But if you have come to an understanding, I know that ultimately this will not make me happy.

01:04:06.045 --> 01:04:12.355
In a very short order, I'll be bored, or dissatisfied, I'll want more, or a variety of these desires.

01:04:13.045 --> 01:04:22.434
So dissatisfaction is the result when we satisfy our desires, and most desires of most people in the world are not satisfied, and the result of that is frustration.

01:04:23.434 --> 01:04:27.375
So this path of fulfilling desires is only these two possible goals.

01:04:27.375 --> 01:04:32.224
These two possible results, dissatisfaction or frustration.

01:04:33.664 --> 01:04:34.514
Begin to see this.

01:04:35.744 --> 01:04:37.565
And then, engage.

01:04:37.755 --> 01:04:43.094
See, even after seeing this, unless there is a positive goal towards which you will go, it will not work.

01:04:43.394 --> 01:04:44.994
You'll still be stuck here.

01:04:45.574 --> 01:04:49.594
Sri Ramakrishna used to say, the more you move towards the East, the more the West gets left behind.

01:04:50.405 --> 01:04:58.465
Now, more you move, he meant, the more you move towards God, or towards enlightenment, the more these worldly problems get left behind.

01:04:58.465 --> 01:05:03.914
So, first of all, make up the mind that, these will not give me any kind of lasting peace, happiness.

01:05:03.945 --> 01:05:04.945
These are not my goal.

01:05:05.005 --> 01:05:07.364
Even if I can't give them up right now, these are not my goal.

01:05:07.715 --> 01:05:08.224
No way.

01:05:08.875 --> 01:05:11.605
And I'll continuously struggle to limit these.

01:05:12.385 --> 01:05:27.425
But as I move positively towards God, spend some time in deep meditation, spend some time in a holy atmosphere of a temple or a church or whatever is sublime for you, you will find, you will not feel like indulging in those desires.

01:05:28.144 --> 01:05:34.474
Clearly, at least for the time being, clearly the state of mind is crucial.

01:05:35.505 --> 01:05:37.844
Those desires, their conditioning is there.

01:05:37.844 --> 01:05:40.235
It gets activated when our minds are at a low state.

01:05:41.985 --> 01:05:45.775
Connect your mind to, you know, read about the lives of saints for half an hour.

01:05:46.164 --> 01:05:53.885
Then that base desire which was pulling you towards some kind of worldliness, that will be attenuated or it will sort of fade away, go away to the background.

01:05:55.304 --> 01:05:57.315
You, at some time, you won't even feel like it.

01:05:57.525 --> 01:05:58.934
That's the best way of coming out of it.

01:05:59.835 --> 01:06:17.635
So, these two things, strong enquiry into, and a conviction, even if I can't give it up right now, it will not be of any particular use to me, it will just, it's a waste of time, money, energy, and it's a treadmill, if you call it the hedonic treadmill.

01:06:17.894 --> 01:06:20.375
There is no, nobody ever has been satisfied.

01:06:20.545 --> 01:06:22.005
So that's the one thing, a clarity.

01:06:22.394 --> 01:06:24.815
Second is positive movement towards God.

01:06:26.125 --> 01:06:46.744
Alright, I had these weaknesses, I had these desires, but now, let me listen to devotional music, let me read a text on non dual philosophy, let me sit for a short period of meditation, let me go out and be of help to people around me, without any, the slightest personal, you know, trying to take credit or get something out of it.

01:06:46.744 --> 01:06:56.644
So, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, pursue these, and you will find the hold of those desires will weaken over time.

01:06:58.155 --> 01:06:58.704
Beautiful.

01:06:59.340 --> 01:07:01.449
Thank you, Swamiji, that was, there's

01:07:01.510 --> 01:07:03.530
so much, I really enjoyed speaking with you.

01:07:03.739 --> 01:07:12.000
thank you, there's so much, yeah, there's so much more I would like to ask, more actually about the liberation stage, but I think that will be for another time,

01:07:12.400 --> 01:07:23.289
we can sit and talk, make it a more focused discussion about non duality itself, core teachings and the liberation and the post liberation, the liberated life.

01:07:23.329 --> 01:07:27.059
Those discussions are like pure non duality discussion

01:07:27.150 --> 01:07:29.050
Yes, yes, definitely.

01:07:29.050 --> 01:07:30.340
I really appreciate the time.

01:07:30.659 --> 01:07:38.579
Thank you for being here with us and allowing us to learn from you and to everyone, I hope to see the next time.

01:07:38.679 --> 01:07:39.630
Take everybody.

01:07:40.039 --> 01:07:40.369
Namaste.

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